Latin American wireless services provider America Movil has selected Alcatel-Lucent to provide infrastructure for its 4G LTE network rollout in Latin America. The deployment will commence with America Movil’s operator Claro commercially launching high-speed mobile broadband services to subscribers in Puerto Rico in the coming weeks.
Ericsson together with Qualcomm successfully performed a voice handover based on the 3GPP-standardized functionality Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) demonstrating users will experience seamless voice services when they move out of LTE coverage, since the call will automatically be handed over to WCDMA or GSM access during the call.
U.S. Cellular is launching a 4G LTE network next month in conjunction with its partner, King Street Wireless. The LTE network will cover 25 percent of U.S. Cellular's customers. The March rollout of 4G LTE includes select cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma, including some of U.S.
Vodafone is prepared to launch LTE network very soon in Portugal. Vodafone will deploy 4G around the country, with the initial coverage available in thirteen district capitals - Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Guarda, Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Lisbon , Santarém, Setúbal, Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada.
LTE is expected to claim the major share of wireless infrastructure capital spending next year as mobile carriers migrate towards it. Global capital spending on LTE technology is projected to reach $24.3 billion in 2013, nearly triple the $8.7 billion of 2012, according to IHS iSuppli report.