Rogers, Bell testing LTE networks

Rogers Communications Inc. and Bell Canada are testing next-generation long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks. Following a release Wednesday, in which Rogers said it has launched a technical trial with Ericsson Canada for LTE testing in the Ottawa area, Bell said it is also conducting tests. “We don’t expect our competitors to launch LTE before us. They’re not ahead of us in testing it,” Bell spokeswoman Julie Smithers said in an interview Thursday. “We tend not to issue press releases for products and services until they’re closer to the point that our customers can actually use them.” Smithers said the company made its first LTE data call this summer and that “several test sites” are now operating in Hamilton and Montreal. She said no carrier is expected to offer LTE services before 2012. In its release, Rogers said LTE will allow more data to pass through the network at speeds of up to 150 Mbps. "This technical trial is significant because it builds on our industry-leading networks and it sets the groundwork for our customers to do even more in the future,” Nadir Mohamed, president and CEO of Rogers, said in the release. Rogers said Ericsson has been working with the company to conduct LTE lab testing at its Ottawa research and development facility, where researchers are studying LTE speeds and performance in various frequency bands. Rogers said it plans to move to a technical trial of LTE on low and high band frequencies in the Ottawa area to evaluate LTE performance in urban, suburban and rural areas. The trial will also look at data throughput speeds and the interoperability of LTE with the company’s HSPA+ network. The technical trial will initially use recently auctioned advanced wireless spectrum, but Rogers said it is seeking a development licence from Industry Canada to use 700 MHz spectrum for the trial.

Rogers, Bell testing LTE networks

Brief | October 7, 2010

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