Huawei unveils London's first 4G network

London, which played home to the first electric power station, the first urban underground and the first airport, and will add another item to its list of firsts in the form of the first 4G network.

Huwaei has teamed up with UK broadband (UKB) to create an LTE in the capital using the former's LTE TDD solution. The LTE TDD 3.5GHz deployment is the first of its kind in the world and the first commercial LTE TDD deployment in the UK, according to the comms giant.

We are proud to be involved in this project and are dedicated to supporting UKB and the Government to help connect more people to high speed wireless broadband networks.

Starting in May this year, UKB will operate a wholesale LTE TDD model to offer commercial services to businesses, consumers and the public sector.

The LTE TDD network will not provide national coverage, but will build large or small LTE coverage wherever there is a demand for high-speed wireless/mobile data capacity.

"We're very excited to be switching on our first LTE TDD system in the UK," said Nicholas James, UKB's CEO.

"We're working with Huawei because we believe they have the expertise and experience we need to deliver the best solution."

In order to deliver super fast broadband speeds to a large number of users simultaneously, the network will use UKB's 124MHz of spectrum in LTE bands 42 and 43 (3.5GHz and 3.6GHz).

According to Victor Zhang, CEO of Huawei, UK, the LTE availability will support and aid the UK Government's broadband agenda.

"We are proud to be involved in this project and are dedicated to supporting UKB and the Government to help connect more people to high speed wireless broadband networks,'' Zhang said.

Because people typically download more than they upload, UKB has chosen the LTE TDD network to allow them to maximise download capacity at all times. The network will optimise both the technology and the wide spectrum bands it has available to deliver a very high download capacity, the tech giants claim.

The first devices to operate on the network include jointly developed indoor and outdoor units for high-speed wireless broadband to homes and businesses within the coverage area.

Multi-mode mobile devices supporting LTE TDD/FDD will be available from September 2012.