Moto launches LTE trial network in UK

Motorola has launched its first Long-Term Evolution (LTE) trial network in Swindon, UK, turning live a 2.6-GHz network and testing lab for European operators looking to perform trials over future 4G spectrum.

Moto is using prototype LTE devices to perform the field trials and today said it has performed live over-the-air LTE calls with that equipment. Moto was one of the five vendors named by Verizon Wireless and Vodafone for their joint LTE trials. Though the trial network is in Vodafone’s UK territory, Motorola did not confirm if the Swindon network was intended to support Vodafone’s ongoing testing. Either way, the spectrum Motorola is using is not yet in Vodafone or any other operator’s possession. The UK, along with most other European countries, has yet to award 4G licenses. So far only the Norwegians and the Swedes have done so, and early efforts there seem to have paid off. TeliaSonera said last month it has begun to build out the first commercial European LTE network in Oslo and Stockholm using Ericsson and Huawei Technologies’ gear.

While Motorola fell behind larger competitors Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent in the 3G deployments, it’s hoping to make up lost ground in 4G. It has won sizable contracts in the WiMax space, including Clearwire, and it has aggressively pursued LTE product development, hoping not only to secure new business but tap into the growing number of CDMA operators switching to LTE. Motorola has already performed live CDMA-to-LTE handover trials in its US labs, and last week it announced a partnership with wireless core vendor Starent Networks to use its evolved packet core (EPC) platform in its future LTE portfolio, allowing Moto to focus on radio access.

Moto said it plans to have commercial LTE systems ready by year end: one for the 700 MHz band targeting US operators such as Verizon and AT&T, and the other at 2.6 GHz for global operators.

The announcement comes one day ahead of Motorola’s fourth-quarter earnings release, which isn’t expected to contain much good news. Last month, Motorola revealed it would cut 4,000 jobs this year, most of them in its suffering handset unit. Motorola said it shipped only 19 million handsets in the holiday quarter, half of the amount it shipped in the fourth quarter of 2007.