Hungary has become the latest European country to test LTE-Advanced technology after Ericsson and Magyar Telecom announced they achieved speeds of 250MBps.
The test was carried out on the 1800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum bands at the operator’s head offices in Budapest. Valter D’Avino, Head of Region Western & Central Europe for Ericsson, said: “Using LTE-A technology, operators can increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience, enabling up to 1Gbps data rates in the future.”
Chris Mattheisen, CEO of Magyar Telekom added: “We are really happy that we are the first operator in Hungary to demonstrate LTE-A technology. We believe that 4G/LTE technology and its next generations are the key elements of the digital development of Europe and of Hungary. With this demonstration we are well on the way to launching the most advanced mobile network in Hungary.”
According to recent figures from the Global mobile Suppliers Association, more than 25 countries have launched their own LTE-A networks that operate Category 4 handsets. The trade body predicted there will be more than one billion LTE connections by 2017, with almost 500 networks live in 128 countries.
Meanwhile, ABI Research predicted that LTE-A connections will account for 34 percent of the total 1.47 billion LTE subscriptions that will operate by 2018. Western Europe will account for 55 million of the total 500 million LTE-A connections. The researchers said that North America will be the dominant LTE-A market.
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