Mobile radio. Long Term Evolution (LTE): Asking when the fourth generation of the mobile radio will arrive

The WiMAX technology has not been accepted in Europe as successor to or as addition to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). In the interim, all large mobile radio grid users count on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard as the future technology. The first pilot grid is expected to start up in the coming year. Until the UMTS grid had reached critical mass for success, the mobile radio field had to wait five years. For the LTE standard, the start is simpler. Different from 1999, when the first UMTS grid started, today there is also a killer application: In 2008 mobile broadband was shaken from its doze by the introduction of the Apple iPhone 3G. A single Smartphone such as an iPhone generates 30 times more data volume that a normal mobile telephone with voice transmission and short message service (SMS). A laptop with UMTS card sends 450 times more data into the grid. It is estimated that in 2013 80% of the global mobile radio data traffic will be attended to by the use of Smartphones. A large part of this traffic will be for video data that are broadband intensive and sensitive to delays. This trend is now visible in the Internet where already this year about 25% of the total traffic volume consist of video data. By 2012 an increase to 50% is expected. For the future broadband mobile radio a similar distribution is expected. The discussion covers introduction; the LTE as the clear winner; operation and maintenance: new autofunctions and meta-levels; automatic error recognition and error repair.