The European Commission (EC) has confirmed that, from 1st January 2010, it will invest £15.5m (€18m) into research that will underpin future 4G mobile networks. The investment refers specifically to next generation Advanced Long Term Evolution ( LTE ) Mobile Broadband technology, which could deliver downstream speeds of up to 1Gbps (1000Mbps) via mobile networks (e.g. O2 , Three (3) , T-Mobile etc.).

Trials of 1st generation Long Term Evolution ( LTE ) technology, which is expected to deliver download speeds of up to 100Mbps (possibly more) and uploads of up to 50Mbps, are already underway in Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. However Ericsson recently warned that it could be 2012 before the new tech could gain a foothold in the UK (here).


The move mirrors a similar one made between 2004 and 2007, when the EU invested €25m to support research on optimisation and standardisation of LTE Europe. This led to the development of the first concept for a LTE-based network infrastructure. By 2013, operators worldwide are also expected to invest nearly €6bn in LTE equipment, according to market analysts.

Still, it is perhaps important not to raise expectations too high. LTE and Advanced LTE are both significant steps forward, not only bringing faster speeds but also better capacity/node management, greater reliability and improved latency. However LTE itself is only part of the equation, mobile operators will need enough capacity and coverage to deliver good performance.

Coverage will be improved, thanks in no small way to Ofcom's goal of opening up existing 2G spectrums for use by 3G services, among other measures. Still, capacity costs money and money is something that all UK mobile operators are having a hard time finding. They can and will deploy 4G tech but consumers may have to wait awhile (years) before LTE can even come close to matching its true potential.

In the meantime first generation LTE is likely to be seen as a technical improvement over HSPA, one that fixes a lot of problems with the old tech but lacks the capacity to deliver on its magical speed promises. We’d be impressed if our existing HSPA based 1Mbps (rough average) Mobile Broadband link managed better than a “stable” 4Mbps with LTE on a good day.

Separately some might also choose to note that this latest move further reinforces the EU's apparent support for LTE over its arch rival - mobile WiMAX. Sadly, despite being complete and ready to deploy, WiMAX has persistently failed to gain the mass market traction that it needs to succeed in the UK and much of Europe.