Two international telecommunications operators will begin testing LTE. This adds to the previous announcement that two other telecoms have begun LTE testing.

Tele2 NL will launch LTE in the Netherlands, according to Telecompaper. The operator built a trial network in Diemen and Amsterdam. It was based on E-UTRA technology. Speeds using this technology are suppose reach 100MBps upload and 50MBps upload speed. In the spectrum auction, Tele2 purchased four licenses in the 2.6GHz frequency. The company payed EUR400,000 for 2x20MHz in the 2545MHz2565MHz band paired with the 2665-2685Mhz band.

Tele2′s MVNO service  had 383,000 users at the end of March 2010. This is a solid base to start subscribing new LTE users. The auction was late, but it’s still an important market. They’ll be able to launch the technology faster as more networks become active. The devices will soon catch up with the development.

Orange Moldova launched a two day public demonstration of LTE in Chisinau. The public will be able to test the 4G technology in Orange’s retail store located in the capital. The operator hopes the demos will help users better understand the potential for LTE. The technology is believed to have download speeds of 100MBps. Orange launched GSM-900 services under the brand Voxtel in 1998. It was the first mobile telephone service in the country. In December 2009, the company increased maximum download speeds on its 3.5G network to 21MBps.

LTE will be rolled out in Moldova over time. The company hasn’t formulated a time line as to when roll out will occur. The operator teamed with Alcatel-Lucent, Orange Labs and the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Telecommunications, two government regulators.

SK Telecom is bringing sweeping changes to its network in South Korea. It will start by improving the performance and capacity of its 3G network. Beginning in 2010, the company will use additional bandwidth allocated by the Korean Communications Commission.

SK will also will launch HSPA+ technology for the first time in South Korea. This upgrade comes after a the launch of HSUPA in 59 cities. The third part of the 3G upgrade involves doubling the capacity of existing base stations by adding a solution. The operator claims it will enhance frequency efficiency, resulting in sable data traffic.

SK also updated its plans for LTE launch. The company is looking to start commercial services in Seoul in 2011. They hope to expand coverage to the Seoul metropolitan area and six addition metropolises in 2012. SK will provide LTE to all parts of South Korea by 2013.

They’ve begun LTE trials along with stating they have the capabilities for the commercialization of LTE. SK will also be the first South Korean operator to launch mobile VoIP services. CEO Jung Man-Won stated the decision to launch M-VoIP follows an extensive study of customers’ data usage.

SK Telecom has the largest subscriber base in all of South Korea. They’re often on the cutting edge of developing technology because the Korean market has long been on the forefront of technological developments. Once SK begins commercial LTE services, it should be interesting to see how long the adoption takes. It’s large consumer base should help LTE growth happen faster than other operators.

There has been a lot of LTE activity going on recently and its happening around the world. Clear Mobitel began LTE trials in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Optus, an Australian operator recently released its findings from the first round of LTE test network.

Clear Mobitel will use space in the 800MHz frequency range around the area of Caradon Hill. It’s expected that 300 people will take part in the first phase of the project. The company will focus on testing LTE as a viable high speed wireelss broadband solution for the rural consumer. Clear Mobitel purchased the spectrum space after the turn of analogue TV broadcasting in April 2009.

Optus claims its download speeds peaked in excess of 50Mbps. Nokia Siemens Networks provided the equipment for the testing with the core network hosted at NSN’s Pyrmont office. The trial, which occurred over two base stations in Gordon and Pymble in northern Sydney used NSN’s Flexi base station, network gateway and network server products. The spectrum uses 10MHz of paired spectrum in the 2100MHz band. The trial was to test upload/download speeds, ping times and handover between the two base station.

The second phase of the testing will test full load, heavy use along with 2G/3G/LTE interoperability. They will probably expand the test to include more people. It will help see how the network can handle large volume of use. If the speeds reported are close to being true, it’s another great opportunity to showcase the advantages that LTE has over its competition.

After phase two, Optus will probably have to upgrade or build more base stations before beginning commercial services in Sydney. Clear Mobitel’s launch will probably be somewhat slower, with it only being in the firs phase of testing.

Alvarion unveiled its flexible platform for 4G using Time Division Duplexing spectrum. Their latest, 4Motion solution will support the forthcoming TD-LTE standard. The company will allow customers to take advantage of the expanding LTE product ecosystem. The field trials using TD-LTE will begin in the first quarter of 2011. Alvarion will also continue to drive the latest in WiMAX activities, including developing state-of-the-art products into operator’s offerings.

“Our primary aim is to offer tailored broadband wireless solutions which can also evolve along with customers’ needs. Our development effort over the past two years has been designed to accommodate the support for TD-LTE as a natural extension of our existing solution,”  Eran Gorev, president and CEO of Alvarion, said, “We are moving full speed ahead both with our ongoing WiMAX development to bring the latest 802.16e enhancements, as well as incorporating TD-LTE into our platform. This approach allows our customers to offer the latest 4G features currently available and will also enable them to leverage the LTE device ecosystem as it evolves.

The trend of unpaired TDD spectrum will play a role in the future of broadband wireless expansion and Alvarion is getting ahead by incorporating TD-LTE in its latest offerings. TDD spectrum uses unpaired frequencies that combine upload and download. It also splits resources on the basis of real-time demand. Operators don’t have to bid on paired spectrum, meaning the cost is lower and deployment can happen faster because the frequencies don’t have to be on the same bandwidth.

Alvarion played a key role in developing the WiMAX standard based upon the flexible architecture model and commercializing and optimizing solutions over the last 10 years. In 2006, the company was the first to offer a 4G platform using TDD spectrum. It’s 4Motion solution is designed to optimize networks using the TDD spectrum.

“We have a strong heritage of driving standards to support open network architecture for both core and radio elements. Our extensive field experience in deploying TDD networks has helped our customers to continuously improve their total cost of ownership,” Ofer Karp, president of Alvarion’s Wireless Business Division, said, “Over the past couple of years, we have added many elements to our current platform that allow us the flexibility and performance to develop multiple standards on a unified platform.”

Their open network started a revolution in the equipment market. They created an all-IP architecture that introduces a new innovation in the industry. The approach lowered the cost of building the network along with high flexibility for service providers to build customized networks that fit their needs. 4Motion is the wireless industry’s most deployed 4G solutions with hundreds of deployments across the globe.

TD-LTE is an extension of WiMAX. Both technologies use the same spectrum space, making it simple for operators to upgrade TD-LTE over the next few years. The technology was started by the Chinese and showcased at a recent Shanghai Expo 2010. It’s not readily deployed yet, but expect trial networks to be set up by the end of 2011 with great expansion in 2012.

Megafon will start LTE tests in Kazan in the Tatarstan region of Russia. It will happen later this year. Megafon rival, Scartel, through Yota will spend $100 million in 2010 to launch LTE in five cities. They previously launched 4G networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg using WiMAX instead of LTE.

“Tatarstan has everything you need to create a LTE test zone in Kazan, including technical ability and willingness to invest in technology development,” said Igor Azure, regional director of the Tatarstan Volga branch of Megafon

Megafon is expected to be awarded the LTE spectrum before Scartel gets additional spectrum space to launch the LTE networks. Yota was the first major operator that switched from WiMAX to LTE. They’re still the only operator that’s made a switch in 4G technologies.

U.S. operator Clearwire has hinted at changing over to LTE but it won’t happen before 2012. Changing over to LTE costs a lot of money because operators must swap out the radios in their base stations. The technologies also work on different frequencies, but the high speed capabilities still exist.

Recently, a Russian telecommunications regulator approved Yota’s switch from WiMAX to LTE. They broke even after five months of operation in their networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This was mostly due to the first WiMAX-enabled phone on the market.

Russia has always been an important technology market. They have many advancements and 4G technology could really help because it’s such a vast and large country where land line can’t be installed. 4G works over mountains and expansive terrain. The competition between Megafon and Yota will be fierce and the winners in the end will be the subscribers because they’ll pay less in fees and cost.

Telecom regulator Roskomnadzor announced that Yota and Rostelecom can use existing frequencies to deploy LTE networks. They had previous stipulated that the allotted frequencies were to be used for WiMAX build out and couldn’t be used for other technologies.

Yota announced in late may that they would deploy LTE over WiMAX beginning in 15 cities, with five networks going live before the end of 2010. Rostelecom hopes to launch LTE networks in regions where the operator holds licenses. They will start to launch networks in 2011. The two telecom operators are preparing LTE testing areas using Russian equipment.

Yota broke even after five months of operation launching WiMAX networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They were the first operators to offer a 4G-enabled handset. Yota is also the first major operator that will make the switch from WiMAX to LTE, shocking a lot of industry insiders.

Forecasters predicted that operators would make the switch to LTE eventually, but not this soon. TD-LTE is the emerging technology that will eventually conquer WiMAX. It’s being trumpeted by the Chinese and it runs on the same frequencies as WiMAX but produces much faster speeds. It was showcased by China Mobile at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

Telecom operators Tele2 Sweden andTelenor Sweden recently updated their LTE launch plans. They plan to cover 100 cities in Sweden by the end of next year. The joint venture, titled Net4Mobility, will launch the 4G technology in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Karlskrona and Lund.

TeliaSonera launched commercial LTE services in Stockholm and Oslo, Norway late in 2009. They launched LTE in Visby, Sweden on June 20, 2010. They plan on launching LTE in 25 locations in Sweden by the end of 2010. TeliaSonera also has the distinction of being the first to launch commercial LTE services. The speed tests on the network were somewhat spotty. Users reported seeing between 20-80MBps. The top speeds topped out at 100MBps.Engadget reported a complete speed test, reporting 5.30MBps upload speeds, along with 42.78 MBps download speeds.

It should be interesting to see what competition does to push LTE adoption in Sweden. The joint venture is completely 50-50 and should help both parties. Increasing voice quality should help get the technology adopted quicker than TeliaSonera.

Nokia Siemens Networks and Nokia teamed to make a LTE data call on the 800MHz frequency. Space on this frequency became available when TV broadcasting changed from analogue to digital broadcasting. It’s a step forward in using LTE on the 800MHz band.

The tests were conducted at Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE Center of Competence in Espoo, Finland. NSN also constructed a LTE-ready Flexi Multiradio base station for the 800MHz band in April. They used Nokia’s LTE multi-mode multi-band Internet modem RD-3. Infrastructure from Nokia Siemens Networks includes its single RAN, featuring Flexi multiradio base station, the evolved packet core.

It’s important to develop the technology in other frequencies and in the 800MHz frequency. It makes it easier for carriers to match the technology because carriers own data and voice services are in the 800MHz frequency. It would also help develop LTE-enabled devices that also make voice calls along with the super fast wireless connection.

Yang Hua, the secretary-general of TD Industry Association, stated that 11 international telecommunications operators will build trial networks using TD-LTE technology. China Mobile developed the technology and showcased it at the 2010 Mobile Broadband China Expo. Their strong promotion, along with cooperation from equipment producers and carriers, are pushing to make TD-LTE the mainstream 4G standard.

Operators supporting TD-LTE will work together to regulate equipment and terminal products. This will help the industry mature faster and build a solid foundation for exploration using the technology.

All 11 operators have reached agreements with China Mobile to operate the TD-LTE business. TD-LTE provides speeds much faster than standard LTE speeds. TD-LTE works on separate frequencies, so the licenses don’t have to be paired together to launch the technology. TD-LTE is a little while longer, but LTE is being launched by top operators like TeliaSonera, Verizon Wireless and other telecom operators.

Novatel Wireless showcased its latest LTE embedded solutions. They are three LTE-ready PCIe Mini Cards using Qualcomm’s dual-mode GSM/LTE chipset.

The expedite E351 provides multimode support for LTE and EV-DO Rev. A and compatibility for all CDMA networks. The Expedite E362 works on LTE, HSPA+ and EV-DO networks. Expedite E371 supports LTE with compatibility to dual carrier HSPA+, UMTS, EDGE and GPRS.

The solution features enhanced GPS/GNAA capabilities for navigation. Novaspeed provides higher throughput via proprietary network prioritization and Novatel Wireless’ Connection Manager. The modules are optimized for power efficiency, thermal and weight.

Novatel Wireless is now known for their MiFi Mobile Intelligent Hotspot mobile router. It should be interesting to see when Novatel Wireless releases a MiFi device that works on LTE networks.

Novatel Wireless’ LTE embedded modules are expected to launch when carriers begin commercial LTE efforts. Verizon Wireless will most likely launch sometime in November. It’s also rumored that Verizon LTE-handsets will enter the market on Black Friday.