long term evolution

long term evolution (LTE), standard for wireless broadband communication technology. Mobile devices are categorized as LTE devices if they improve upon third-generation (3G) technology while still falling short of 4G standards. Specifically, devices use LTE if their mobile data download speed is between 3G’s peak performance of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and 4G’s peak performance of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). LTE, more than being just a label, is also a guide for telecommunications development. Technical specifications released by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organization laid out the incremental steps for developing 2G and 3G networks, first into LTE systems and eventually into 4G systems.

The acronym LTE is a registered trademark of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) but is used with permission by countries and companies around the world. Like 3G before it, the speed and connectivity requirements of LTE were established by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), an agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating international radio communications. The 3GPP then wrote technical specifications for meeting LTE requirements. Despite these clearly defined parameters, advertisers were soon permitted by the ITU-R to market LTE as fourth-generation technology, resulting in LTE and 4G often being used as synonyms. Adding to the resulting confusion, as LTE has matured, its more advanced networks actually have met 4G requirements. Consequently, the ITU-R now describes legitimate 4G technologies as “true 4G.”

LTE’s advances over 3G in data transfer speed and capacity were primarily accomplished through two major upgrades to telecommunication infrastructure. The first change was the introduction of a new radio access network (RAN) called EUTRAN (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network), sometimes also called E-UTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access). This new air interface system offered higher data rates, lower latency (time for a device to respond to information), and improved handling of packet data, or smaller units of data. The interface was incompatible with 2G and 3G technology, however, and therefore required a new radio spectrum on which to operate.

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The second change was the replacement of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Core Network—which enables 2G, 3G, and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) mobile networks to send Internet Protocol (IP) packets to external networks such as the Internet—with a new network called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). Unlike the GPRS, which is a hybrid system combining the old telecommunication method of circuit switching with modern packet switching, the EPC exclusively used the latter. This fully IP-based architecture dramatically lowered operating costs by increasing data and voice capacity.

Further LTE-level developments since the creation of the designation have led to additional standards within the LTE category. The LTE Advanced (LTE-A) standard was released in 2011. LTE-A allows for faster speeds by aggregating channels, allowing users to download data from multiple sources at once. Most smartphones now support LTE-A.

A further step up from LTE-A was LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-AP), which featured important enhancements on three technologies: carrier aggregation, wherein different LTE carrier bands are combined to offer greater bandwidth; quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) of digital signals, which increases the rate at which data is transmitted; and multiple input–multiple output (MIMO) antennas, which are two separate antennas that transmit data on the same radio frequency allocated by a cell tower, resulting in faster speeds. Finally, there is gigabit-class LTE, a form of LTE-AP that can meet 4G requirements.

Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo proposed the development of LTE in 2004, not only to advance wireless broadband technology, but also to unite the global market under one standard. On December 14, 2009, the Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company TeliaSonera activated the first commercial LTE network, providing LTE coverage to the cities of Oslo and Stockholm. The world’s first large-scale LTE network was deployed in the United States by Verizon in December 2010, covering 38 major cities. By 2016, more than 530 commercial LTE networks had been launched in 170 countries. At the end of 2022, the number of networks had risen to over 800—some 330 of them LTE-A with 4G speeds of 1 Gbps—and more than 85 percent of the global population enjoyed coverage.

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