4G Tests: UK, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil & Argentina
Spain’s mobile phone giant Telefonica is about to launch 4G network tests in six countries as a prelude to launching full data networks. In addition to Telefonica’s home country of Spain, – the UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina will take part in the LTE testing.
Earlier this year Telefonica demoed a 4G VoIP call over a LTE network as well as data & image downloads of over 140mbps.
Vodafone Testing 4G in Germany
Vodafone is to start 4G tests in Germany from “this summer”, which by my watch means any time now.
The tests are designed to help plan mobile broadband services for rural and urban areas of Germany and will use mobile technology supplied by Huawei.
Vodafone trial Rural Broadband in Germany
Vodafone Germany will begin testing Long-Term Evolution (LTE) broadband access in rural areas within the next few weeks.
Last month the German government redefined its concept of broadband Internet access – raising the threshold for internet connection speeds from 384Kbps to 1Mbps. It plans to achieve the minimum threshold by the end of 2010 and has set aside the 800Mhz spectrum to fill in the gaps in broadband coverage.
According to a Vodafone Germany spokesman, 10% of German households don’t yet have access to broadband.
Germany gets ready to auction 4G spectrum
Germany’s four mobile operators are dusting off their wallets for the forthcoming auction of Germany’s 4G spectrum.
The country’s regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, will offer a massive 340 MHz of spectrum for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) 4G technology.
To put that into perspective, the 2000 German auction of 3G space was for 65 MHz. Total gain for the German government? A tidy $40 billion.
Given current economics, it seems unlikely such a figure will be reached for the 4G airspace. That said, 4G phones are going to be a huge market – and telcos know that better than anyone.
The exact date of the auction is still to be announced.
