Wireless broadband technology Long Term Evolution (LTE), moved a step closer to commercial reality on Thursday as Alcatel-Lucent and LG Electronics announced the completion of test calls.

The companies, which carried out the multi-vendor interoperability testing initiative using Alcatel-Lucent’s LTE kit and mobile device prototypes from LG, said the announcement represented a key milestone in the commercialisation of the next generation wireless technology.

The tests demonstrated the super high speed data transmissions promised to be made available by the technology. From a technical perspective, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardised LTE technology aims to provide improved spectral efficiency, increased radio capacity, lower latency, lower operating costs for operators, and downlink/uplink peak data rates above 100/50Mbps.

This week’s effort was part of a broader testing regime being conducted under the auspices of the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI), a group of operators and vendors established to commercialise and develop interoperability in LTE systems.

LSTI launched in May of this year and was founded by Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone, and was recently expanded to include China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Signalion, Telecom Italia and ZTE.

The LTE/SAE trial initiative is divided into three main phases; proof of concept, interoperability and trial. Joint testing will continue to the end of 2009, with initial LTE system deployments planned for the 2010 timeframe.

Commenting on the announcement, an LSTI spokesperson said: “These early results show great promise for 3GPP LTE technology, and are a tangible early validation of the reality of 3GPP LTE systems and services. The collective and cooperative performance test work accomplished to date by this pioneering group is a testimony to the group’s leadership and determination to accelerate the availability of commercial and interoperable LTE systems.”

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