Compagnie Financiere Alcatel Lucent (NYSE:ALU) announced this week it handed off a video call between a Long Term Evolution (LTE) and a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless network.
Using the M13 LTE device, manufactured by LG Electronics Inc., Alcatel-Lucent used eNodeBS base stations, IP media subsystems and its IP backhaul products in the New York area.
“This is a key milestone that demonstrates Alcatel-Lucent's readiness to deliver LTE to CDMA operators,” said Alcatel-Lucent 4G/LTE president Ken Wirth stated in a press release. “Existing networks were designed primarily with voice in mind and the current explosion in data traffic is creating a challenge for service providers.”
LTE is expected to provide data transfer rates on wireless cellular networks of about 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) but is a data standard. Although Verizon plans to roll out LTE in the U.S. this year, Canadian carriers have yet to release LTE plans.
Earlier this week, Frost & Sullivan analyst James Brehm predicted LTE will be rolled out in Canada no earlier than 2015.
Alcatel Lucent said in this week’s LTE demonstration, the company tested Evolved High Rate Packet Data (eHRPD0, an interface that hands off services between CDMA and LTE networks.