Telefonica today introduced live experience of Smart 4G network at the Mobile World Congress. The network deploys 2.6Ghz frequency band and provides download speeds of 100 Mbps, between 40-60Mbps on upload, says operator.

Based on Alcatel-Lucent's lightRadio, in this deployment conventional radio base stations co-exist with 4G metro cells (small base stations incorporating antennas and radio) working on the same frequency and with no interference. Samsung is also presenting the LTE smart mobile devices for band 7 (2.6Mhz), GALAXY S II LTE smartphone and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE tablet, which can be used on this new high-capacity network.

According to the operator, the most significant feature of Telefonica's LTE network is its increased capacity – with each cell comfortably supporting 30 people browsing simultaneously with average speed of 30Mbps. Tests conducted on this network show that a 400% increase in capacity can be made available to users compared to a conventional network design, and that significantly higher capacity gains could be delivered with denser metro-network design. The network supports speeds of up to 10 times those offered by the 3G network, with download speeds of 100Mbps, upload speeds of 40-60 Mbps and with latency times of around 20-25 milliseconds.

"The deployment of LTE that Telefonica has brought to the MWC, together with Alcatel-Lucent, gives us a glimpse of a tomorrow where everyone and everything is seamlessly connected, and in superfast time. But the challenge ahead is to ensure that all the technologies currently being deployed – 2G, 3G, LTE, WiFi and Fiber – can co-exist to deliver next generation communications. Telefonica's strategy is to develop intelligent networks that allow these different technologies to co-exist efficiently and cover customers' growing connectivity needs in markets that are at different stages of development,"  said Enrique Blanco, Telefonica's Chief Technology Officer.