Lord Carter praises LTE mobile broadband potential

Communications minister Lord Carter has praised long-term evolution (LTE) technology as potentially playing an important role in the UK's broadband future.

The minister recently released his interim Digital Britain report including the pledge to provide broadband of 2Mbps or higher to every household by 2012.

During a visit to Motorola's LTE testing laboratory in Swindon, Lord Carter stated his belief that the technology could help bring broadband to remote and otherwise unreachable areas.

Often referred to as 4th Generation Mobile, LTE technology is believed to have the potential to deliver download speeds of around 100Mbps.

It is expected to be ready for commercial roll-out by around late 2010 or early 2011.

Lord Carter said: "Motorola's trials here in Swindon are not only important in terms of inward investment and innovation and service development.

"They could also represent an important step towards stretching broadband coverage to the remotest parts of the UK."

According to a study by Juniper Research, advances such as LTE could help the global mobilebroadband industry become worth over $70 billion (£48.1 billion) by 2014.