
Consumers are going to enjoy faster broadband mobile data thanks to a new wireless technology.
The chairman of Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has just made an announcement that concerns the modern direction of wireless devices. He stated that his organization has just given green light to a series of devices to use new wireless technology. This is about the LTE-U spectrum that was created by Qualcomm for the first time. This will enable users to tap into the 5GHz frequency band that has unlicensed parts and therefore less accessed traffic.
On Wednesday, the Office of Engineering and Technology department from FCC authorized several companies such as Nokia and Ericsson to start selling products with LTE-U. This new wireless technology can move broadband traffic to unlicensed spectrum that works on 5GHz which is faster than any other such service. At the moment, these airwaves were operating only Bluetooth and WiFi services. However, from now on, these sources will be shared with mobile broadband data as well.
Ajit Pai stated that his agency promotes the idea of competitive products and this new authorization consolidates this commitment. He is also welcoming strategies that open doors to innovation in the industry. Companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, Qualcomm, Verizon, and Ericsson were the ones that proposed this new wireless technology to the committee. This advancement will help carriers decongestion their networks. LTE-U can only be considered a great support for the large demand for Wi-Fi networks.
Verizon is a member of the Federal Communication Commission and expressed its content with the decision of the board members. One of its spokespersons stated that this new direction marks yet another great example of how unlicensed spectrum can be used to lead the industry towards innovation. The main competitor of the telecommunications company, T-Mobile, has also applauded this initiative. In its blog post, the organization announced that it already began working on the development of the LTE-U new wireless technology. The company is going to implement the updates as early as this spring.
On the other hand, this subject is a matter of controversy within the telecommunications industry. Two years ago, Google presented the FCC a 25-page protest against LTE-U. The paper expressed in technical details that this technology can be harmful to the industry. They conducted a study to show that LTE-U cannot share unlicensed airwaves with Wi-Fi without bad results.
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