‘Next generation mobile broadband technology’ gets the green signal from ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has finalized the specifications for next generation mobile broadband technology which is more efficient and 100 times faster than 3G.
‘International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) – Advanced’ will support telecommunications services on fixed and mobile networks. It is considered as an improvement from IMT-2000, which is the standard pertaining to 3G.
For the last three years and more, ITU has been working on IMT-Advanced. The requirements of 4G are set by IMT-Advanced. Though Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Mobile WiMax are referred to as 4G, they are actually 3G. However, the next generations of LTE and WiMax (LTE Advanced and WiMax 2.0) can qualify as 4G as per the rules of IMT-Advanced.
About 3300 delegates from 150 countries will discuss the suggestions of ITU at its ‘World Radio-communication Conference’ (WRC) in Geneva from 23rd January to 17th February.
IMT-Advanced technology will be so advanced that it will make the smartphones of today look as ordinary as the dial up internet connection of the past. There is no doubt that surfing the net, downloading videos, data transfer anytime and anywhere etc will be much better than at present.
According to ITU, for mobile connections the standard is a data rate of 100 Mbps, while for fixed connection the standard is a minimum speed of One Gbps. It enforces better use of the spectrum to support the explosion of mobile data traffic. It helps in the development of services like mobile video chat, mobile television etc.
Meanwhile Ofcom is in the process of auctioning the spectrum needed for the 4G project. As per its proposals, no spectrum will be reserved for ‘Everything Everywhere’.
‘Three’ will be the only network to get the reserved spectrum. Three had informed that without the spectrum it would have to wind up the company.
Ofcom has suggested that a part of the 2.6 GHz band be shared among the companies interested in experimenting with new services, say networks for student campuses, commercial complexes, hospitals etc which function on short range frequencies.
