Wireless and Fiber Communication News Roundup – 4G, 3G and 10 to 100 Gbps trials and upgrades


1. Swedish telecommunications company TeliaSonera has launched the world’s first commercially available 4G mobile broadband network. Based on the much talked about LTE or Long Term Evolution Technology, the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards aims to give users a seamless service across several different networks and systems. It will have speeds of up to 100Mbit/s.

2. BendBroadband, a Bend, Ore.-based cable operator, this morning launched a next-generation wireless broadband network that uses HSPA+ technology, thus becoming the first company in the U.S. to do so. T-Mobile USA has a trial network up and running in Philadelphia, though it has yet to launch a commercial service.

BendBroadband, a Bend, Ore.-based cable operator, this morning launched a next-generation wireless broadband network that uses HSPA+ technology, thus becoming the first company in the U.S. to do so. T-Mobile USA has a trial network up and running in Philadelphia, though it has yet to launch a commercial service. T-Mobile USA will start to integrate HSPA+ into their network in 2010.

AT&T also pledged to complete its high-speed HSPA 7.2Mbps network upgrade in 2011.

Verizon Wireless believes it will be able to maintain its edge in network quality as the industry moves to so-called fourth-generation wireless technology. Such technology will let consumers download anywhere from 5 to 12 megabytes per second, up from about 1.5 currently. Next year, Verizon plans to roll out the technology in 30 of the most populated markets, finishing the nationwide rollout two years later. Verizon’s early deployments will be focused on modems and wireless access cards for laptops. 4G handsets aren’t expected to be widely available until 2011.

3. Fierce Telecom reports: Verizon has decided to double promote its long haul networks from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps as it turns up its first commercial live link in Europe. This initial move is part of a broader initiative to upgrade its current North American long haul links from 10 Gbps to 100 Gbps.

Calling it a “true” 100 Gbps link, the new connection will carry Private IP traffic on a 555 mile route between Verizon’s core routers in Paris and Frankfurt, Germany. Verizon was able to send a 100 Gbps signal by using the same spacing between wavelengths that’s used for a single wavelength on a long haul system that currently carries other live 10 Gbps wavelengths.

4. Ericsson has demonstrated its latest mobile broadband technology, HSPA Evolution, with lightning speeds of almost 42Mbps. The demonstration near Stockholm, Sweden, achieved a download speed of 41.5Mbps – a world first on a chipset made from commercially-available products.

5. Verizon is the first telecommunications company in the world to successfully field-test a passive optical network system known as XG-PON that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) downstream and 2.4 Gbps upstream, four times as fast as the current top transmission speeds supporting the company’s all-fiber FiOS network. The test was conducted recently in southern Massachusetts.

Cable operators like Cablevision and Mediacom are offering 100+ Mbps service, it’s a good bet that Verizon will launch a 100 Mbps FiOS tier sometime next year just to save face, even if only a few customers are interested.

6. A 60 Ghz wireless standard has been announced. 60Ghz wireless technology is capable of transmitting data at up to 7Gbps. Seven gigabits per second is more than ten times faster than wireless N.