First LTE trials kick off in the UK

25 May 2011

Fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology Long Term Evolution (LTE) will debut first in rural areas of the UK as part of trials being conducted by BT, Orange and T-Mobile.

The three companies will trial LTE technology – which can provide mobile users with theoretical speeds of up to 100Mbps – in Newquay in Cornwall, which is unable to get broadband services of any description.

Last month, BT signed a €38m contract with Three Ireland to roll out fibre to 1,000 mobile sites around Ireland that will result in mobile users across the country receiving potential speeds of up to 100Mbps.

BT Ireland has provided transmission solutions to Three over the last seven years. Last year, it developed a Total Transmission Solution which is ready for LTE.

This development involved the expansion of fibre-based access transmission into Three’s Radio Access Networks, allowing for these high broadband speeds.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com