T-Mobile Reveals LTE Trial With Huawei
The news adds to Huawei's LTE credentials, which includes multiple trials and a commercial contract from Telia Company . Other European operators that have put Huawei's proto-4G gear through its paces include Telenor Group (Nasdaq: TELN) and Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD). (See TeliaSonera: We'll Do 4G in 2010, Vodafone Tests LTE With Huawei, V'fone Germany to Test LTE for Rural Broadband, Huawei Eyes UK LTE Trials, Telenor to Test Huawei LTE, Huawei Bags Another Euro LTE Gig, and Huawei Blazing LTE Trail.)
T-Mobile claims that the trial in the city of Innsbruck, Austria, is a "world first" since it is the first to test multi-user services over LTE with mobility. The operator also claims the project is the largest LTE trial in Europe, involving 60 "radio cells" deployed over the standing 3G network grid that have been running since the beginning of July this year.
For this field trial, T-Mobile says, the goal was to learn more about the customer experience as well as test and verify the technology. Specifically, the operator said it is focusing on quality, stability, and reliability in the city as well as along highways around the city.
The devices used are capable of 50 Mbit/s on the downlink and uplink, according to T-Mobile, but the operator did not specify what kind of devices were used or whether they were also supplied by Huawei.
On the network infrastructure side of the project, T-Mobile deployed LTE remote radio heads as well as fiber to all the sites to support the LTE access speeds and the "lowest power consumption," according to T-Mobile Austria's CTO, Jim Burke.
Earlier this year, T-Mobile achieved peak data rates of 130 Mbit/s in an LTE showcase in Vienna. But T-Mobile has not yet said when, or in which market, it would launch LTE commercially. (See T-Mobile, Orange Open Up on LTE and MWC 2009: T-Mobile Gets Real on LTE.)
— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Unstrung
So, how soon will T-Mobile be ready to launch LTE, and where?
Michelle