Ericsson, the world’s largest provider of mobile networks, today announced the establishment of a new centre in Melbourne that will play a major global role in the development of LTE (Long Term Evolution), the next step in the evolution of mobile network technology.
The multi-million dollar LTE Global Competence Centre (GCC) is the first of its kind in the Ericsson worldwide group and will be located in Ericsson Australia’s head office in Docklands, Melbourne. It is due to open later in July, with full operations commencing in August.
The LTE GCC will play an integral role in providing a bridge between Ericsson’s R&D labs and its global services organisations, promoting the worldwide commercial deployment of LTE. The facility will be engaged in activities such as research and development, system trials and testing, and the development of engineering guidelines, tools and processes for the introduction and operation of LTE networks.
LTE, more than any other technology, already meets key 4G requirements, as defined by 3GPP (the Third-Generation Partnership Project). It offers a superior user experience, enhancing such applications as mobile video, blogging, advanced gaming, rich multimedia telephony and business applications.
LTE is a natural extension of existing GSM/WCDMA/HSPA networks and enables peak download speeds of at least 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps. Ericsson has already demonstrated LTE at data rates of 160Mbps, and expects LTE to be commercially available in the second half of 2009.
Bill Zikou, CEO of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, says: “LTE is the future of mobile communications and promises amazing benefits for end users, with ultra-fast speeds and a whole new world of applications. Operators will benefit through increased revenues and core network efficiencies.
“Ericsson is investing significantly to secure leadership in this area. The LTE Global Competence Centre will play a critical role in driving LTE development and places Australia at the forefront of advances in wireless broadband technology. Furthermore, the establishment of the facility is recognition of the world-class skills of the Australian IT industry,” says Mr Zikou.
“Australian carriers are showing keen interest in LTE and the Melbourne facility will provide them with easy access to global expertise, technology trials, and consultancy services. This should serve to hasten the deployment of LTE and bring the benefits to Australian users earlier,” adds Mr Zikou.
“LTE can be described as the first true global standard in mobile network technology. It is supported by the largest telecommunication operators around the world and we expect that around 85 percent of the world's carriers will eventually adopt LTE,” says Mr Zikou.
Wireless broadband is set to dominate the future of telecommunications - of the estimated 1.8 billion people who will have broadband by 2012, some two-thirds will be mobile broadband subscribers.
The LTE GCC is part of Ericsson Australia’s Global Service Delivery Centre, which employs more than 700 people and offers a full suite of product services such as global customer support, network deployment and integration, consulting, systems integration and managed services.
Further information:
Press Backgrounder on HSPA, LTE and Beyond
White paper on LTE
About LTE
LTE is the next evolution in mobile network standards defined by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) and supports operations in both the paired spectrum and unpaired spectrum. It enables efficient spectrum utilization for both legacy and future wireless frequency bands. Channel bandwidths of 1.4-20MHz are supported. The wide industry support for LTE ensures economies of scale, providing cost-efficient solutions. The first commercial devices will support speeds of up to 150Mbps.
About Ericsson's HSPA solution
An inherent advantage of HSPA is that the technology is a natural extension of existing WCDMA/GSM networks, or about 85 percent of the world's existing wireless networks. HSPA reaches a large number of wireless users and has created a mass market for mobile broadband.
By 2010, 71 percent of mobile broadband connections are projected to be HSPA based.
Ericsson's HSPA mobile broadband solution, part of Ericsson's Full Service Broadband offering, today enables download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps and upload speeds of 1.4Mbps. The advanced technology lets operators more than double their system capacity and cuts response times for interactive services. On average, users will be able to download 20 times faster than with a GSM/GPRS connection. Future evolution steps will increase the HSPA download speed to 42Mbps and the upload speed to 12Mbps. Ericsson offers HSPA support on many frequency bands ranging from 850MHz to 2.6GHz.
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 195 million subscribers. The company's portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices.
Ericsson is advancing its vision of "communication for all" through innovation, technology and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 70,000 employees generated revenue of USD 27.9 billion (SEK 188 billion) in 2007. Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm and NASDAQ.
Visit www.ericsson.com or www.ericsson.mobi.
For more information please contact:
John Papanidis
External Relations Manager
Ericsson Australia
Tel: +61 (0)2 9111 4412
Mob: +61 (0)401 237 854
