O2 confirms use of NEC kit in Slough LTE test

O2 confirmed that it is using Japanese electronics firm NEC's Pasolink microwave backhaul technology in its UK trial of LTE (Long-Term Evolution) 4G next-generation mobile services.

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The equipment provides a high-capacity, resilient transmission link to one of O2's key LTE trial sites in the Slough area. The Pasolink kit carries high-definition streaming video, mobile gaming, high-speed file transfer and videoconferencing between O2's basestations.

"NEC provided us with the high performance and flexible access link to trial our next-generation LTE mobile service," Nigel Purdy, O2's head of networks, said at Mobile World Congress.

At the show, Telefonica, O2's parent, showed a working LTE system using LTE radio and core network equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks. It used pre-commercial LTE terminals to show fast downloads of high-resolution videos both on its booth and in a moving van on the streets of Barcelona. Visitors could compare these download times and image quality with those from an existing HSPA network.

NEC Europe vice-president Richard Hanscott said, "The massive demand for smartphones and data, along with plans for next-generation mobile network technologies such as LTE, has brought network quality and time to deployment right to the heart of a successful strategy for mobile operators."

He said NEC had shipped more than one million Pasolink units to 136 countries, with the fastest sales in Asia and the Middle East.