In July 2009 the European Commission decided to start funding research on Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology aiming to offer mobile internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks.

According to the above decision, as of January 2010, € 18 million will be invested into research on the enhanced version of Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced. LTE is becoming thus the industry's first choice for next generation mobile networks, also thanks to a previous substantial EU research funding since 2004 which led to the development of a first concept for an LTE-based network infrastructure.

LTE is the latest wireless technology, providing mobile internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, ten times faster than 3G mobile networks. LTE-Advanced extends the technological principles of LTE into a further step change in data rates.

"With LTE technologies, Europe's research 'know-how' will continue to set the tone for the development of mobile services and devices around the globe, just as we did in the past decades with the GSM standard," said Viviane Reding, European  Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "LTE technologies will turn mobile phones into powerful mobile computers. Millions of new users will get ultra high-speed internet access on their portable devices, wherever they are. This will create tremendous opportunities and plenty of space for growing the digital economy."

Some of the benefits resulting from the deployment of LTE Advanced technology are the following:

• Faster mobile broadband will be provided by operators at lower prices,
• Mobile broadband speeds will reach up to 1GB per second, allowing users to fully benefit from online services,
• The radio spectrum will be used more efficiently; therefore mobile networks will benefit from the 'digital dividend'.
• Mobile broadband will be brought to less populated regions reducing 'digital divide' between rural and urban areas.

Further information:

• Original news item, Europa Rapid Press releases website
• EU research on networks of the future and LTE, CORDIS webpage
• EU-funded project Wireless World Initiative New Radio (WINNER), website