Alcatel-Lucent reports that it has successfully completed the first LTE data call on the 800 MHz European Digital Dividend (EDD) spectrum band in a live network.
The infrastructure company said it successfully streamed high-definition video over an LTE network to a prototype mobile device. The call was completed in October at Alcatel-Lucent’s 4G/LTE lab in Stuttgart, Germany.
Alcatel-Lucent is attempting to get ahead of the curve as Europe prepares to begin auctioning off the 800 MHz spectrum band, which is particularly well suited to bringing mobile broadband Internet services to rural areas. A German frequency auction including the 800 MHz spectrum band is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2010.
This first EDD call in a live LTE network marks a milestone for the introduction of LTE in the European market and highlights Alcatel-Lucent’s readiness to provide mobile operators with a commercial solution as soon as regulatory decisions on EDD are made.
“Our goal is to quickly and effectively support operators in their plans to further enhance the availability of broadband services all over the region, so we adapted our LTE solution to the 800 MHz frequency band quite early on and we are now working with customers on field trials,” said Ken Wirth, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s LTE/4G Solutions, in a statement.
Deploying LTE at 800 MHz has a clear benefit for operators that can use fewer sites to cover rural areas, thus reducing overall environmental impact. The 800 MHz spectrum LTE deployment could be an ideal complement to a 2.6 GHz spectrum LTE deployment where smaller cells are required in a dense urban environment, for example.
Alcatel-Lucent has live 2.6 GHz LTE networks in Stuttgart and Velizy in France and its 2.6 GHz radio modules are CE marked, clearing the way for shipment of 2.6 GHz LTE base stations in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Filed Under: Infrastructure