1. What is LTE?
LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is the global standard for the fourth generation of mobile networks
(4G) supported by all major players in the industry. LTE offers the capacity and the speed to handle
a rapid increase in data traffic with close to 5 billion mobile broadband subscriptions in 2016.
What are the advantages with LTE for users?
LTE gives a superior user experience when it comes to stability, throughput, and latency. The
increased capacity will bring new and better services to users.
What are the advantages with LTE for operators?
LTE offers existing and greenfield operators the advantage of a future proof network delivering
capacity, throughput and user experience creating new business opportunities and revenues. LTE
offers low long-term capital and operational costs. Networks deployed today can be used for all
generations of communication; 2G, 3G and 4G.
How fast is LTE?
Today’s LTE networks are able to provide speeds up to 100Mbps. However user experience may
vary depending on location and present network load. The technology allows for speeds more than
300Mbps and Ericsson has already demonstrated the next step of LTE at the MWC 2010 with
speeds up to 1.2Gbps. Live measurements in north of Stockholm in June 2011 gave speeds above
1Gbps.
When will I be able to use LTE?
This depends on where you live. For example in the North America and Scandinavia, LTE is
already available. Today 285 million people have LTE coverage (Nov 2011) and there are more than
a 200 LTE-ready devices (smartphones, tablets, modems) available this year.
So far there have been 49 commercial LTE deployments (GSA Jan 2012). In total, 154 operators in
60 countries have publicly committed to the technology (2010).
So 2011 was the year when LTE took off for real and 2012 will be the year of volume expansion
Will LTE make previous standards like HSPA (3G) obsolete?
No, in many markets HSPA and EDGE will continue to do a perfectly good job in delivering
broadband to billions of mobile users for many years to come.
The introduction of LTE will be an evolutionary step, rather than revolutionary, as large parts of
existing infrastructure is re-used providing a future-proof technology path for flexible migration of
services between 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies. But in order to meet customer expectations
and demands for capacity and speed tomorrow, all major players need to put an LTE strategy in
place today.
What will happen with voice calls over LTE?
Unlike previous generations of mobile networks, LTE is completely IP-based and supports only
data transfers in its basic form. However most operators are likely to offer their customers solutions
for voice services.
Operators will benefit from an early voice over LTE strategy supporting their existing and future
services.

2. In our view GSMA VoLTE, a solution supported by the governing body of GSM
telecommunications systems, offers the best opportunity for operators to evolve their services
toward full multimedia while protecting and expanding their business.
For LTE to support voice and messaging, an IP-based solution is required that will offer the same
interoperable and seamless experience that 2G and 3G wireless technologies offer today. IMS (IP
multimedia subsystem) can achieve this, and supports all voice call service features such as call
waiting, call hold and call barring, and is highly scalable to serve very large subscriber bases. IMS
also provides mobile operators with the ability to offer services that can integrate voice calls with
enhanced, rich features such as presence, instant messaging and video content, delivered in an
interoperable and multi-operator environment Source Ericsson Forum.
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