Speaking at Futurecom in São Paulo, UMTS Forum Chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaimé described LTE (Long Term Evolution) as “not just a new standard, but the enabler for a new global mobile ecosystem”.

Most mobile technologies – spanning GSM/UMTS, CDMA/EV-DO and TD-SCDMA – will migrate ultimately to LTE, noted Bienaimé, with half of the world’s population expected to be connected to UMTS/LTE by 2020.

Through LTE, the mobile industry can successfully accommodate the surge in subscribers and connected devices that will see global data traffic rise even higher than levels previously expected at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC-07).
Bienaimé also encouraged Brazil to reserve the entire 2.6 GHz frequency band for mobile broadband, according to the ITU plan (2x70 MHz FDD + 50 MHz TDD).  In this way, and according to Brazil’s Public Consultation 31, the country will benefit fully from the continuing global success of GSM/UMTS and its continuing evolution to LTE.

“As more spectrum is needed in the next decade, reserving the 2.6 GHz band becomes increasingly crucial for Brazil”, said Bienaimé. “Without the whole band for mobile broadband – or a substantial part of it – Brazil risks not having enough spectrum for the decade, since the 700MHz band is blocked by digital TV broadcasting.”

The UMTS Forum chairman also stressed the importance of giving mobile operators access to 2x20 MHz of continuous spectrum, otherwise, investment in next generation systems may be less attractive.