Ericsson demos faster LTE speeds of almost 1Gbps

Ericsson yesterday demoed a new version of LTE technology that's 10 times faster than today's current standard and delivers speeds of nearly 1 gigabit per second.

Conducted in the company's home base of Sweden, the demonstration of LTE Advanced was presented to the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). Using existing commercial hardware, Ericsson was able to use a test frequency provided by the PTS to show off certain features of LTE Advanced for the first time.

One feature of LTE Advanced that Ericsson demonstrated was carrier aggregation, which combines signals from multiple carriers to achieve a higher overall bandwidth. The company also took advantage of a feature called extended multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) functionality, which allows data to be sent and received much faster, even when the network is congested. Combined with the overall faster speed of LTE Advanced, these features add up to a better experience for the user, Ericsson said.

LTE Advanced isn't exactly unique. Other carriers and device makers have demoed the technology, also reaching speeds close to 1Gbps, according to The New York Times. Last October, the International Telecommunication Union officially gave its stamp of approval to LTE Advanced, designating it as a true 4G standard.

But Ericsson expects to start launching LTE Advanced commercially in 2013, assuming the necessary mobile frequencies can be allocated and the necessary equipment can be deployed to support the technology's advanced features.

"Ericsson encourages all regulators to allocate harmonized spectrum as early as possible," Ulf Ewaldsson, an Ericsson vice president, said in a statement. "The next step of LTE enhances the current service offering, performance, and data speed even further. It provides operators with the opportunity to capitalize further on their existing infrastructure."