Arqiva To Trial LTE Broadband Network In UK Not Spots

Communications and media services company Arqiva have teamed up with Alcatel-Lucent to begin trialling Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology in West Wales by making use of the existing 800MHz spectrum that has since been freed up due to the digital TV switchover.

The trial will take place in the Preseli Mountains, West Wales – a region that has around five village locations that struggle with “not spot” broadband speeds of less than 0.5MBit/s.

Arqiva hope that that their trial will help to demonstrate the economic and technical viability of a neutral-host wireless network used as a route to extend broadband Internet services to areas with little or no broadband coverage.

“We launched a trial demo in Wales, to show wireless to deliver broadband for all areas that cannot get basic broadband,” explained Jonathan Freeman, Head of Strategic Business Development, at Arqiva. “At the moment, this is just a demonstration run purely by us, but over time it believe it could expand to a multisite trial.”

Freeman also notes that their broadband solution would be open to other network providers who may want to offer their own service using the LTE network which can provide customers with speeds of up to 50Mbps.

“It is similar to BT’s wholesale offering as it will be a shared infrastructure, but with wireless technology. The concept is that any service provider can plug into the network. We are not offering any retail solution to end users.”

Freeman added that they will be using LTE in this case rather than WiMax, as the area has already switched to digital TV and “LTE is the fore running technology is this spectrum band, although we are technology agnostic.”

Because it makes use of the 800MHz spectrum, the LTE network will be robust and less prone to atmospheric interference, as well as providing good in-building penetration.

[via eweekeurope.com]