Alcatel-Lucent and China Mobile demonstrate first video conversation using 4G technology to connect locations in China and the United States

Thursday, August 25th, 2011
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Alcatel-Lucent highlights progress towards next-generation wireless broadband services with three-way trans-Pacific video call using lightRadio

SHANGHAI, China — Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; Hong Kong: 0941) have today reached another major milestone in the creation of next generation wireless services by staging the first mobile broadband video call over a next-generation 4G LTE mobile network, to connect a fixed location and a car in Shanghai with Alcatel-Lucent offices in New Jersey.

Using lightRadio™ – Alcatel-Lucent’s breakthrough technology providing wireless network operators with the flexibility to adapt to rising demand for mobile video and other high-bandwidth services – the video call linked Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs headquarters in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell demonstration center in Shanghai, and the ‘LTE Connected Car’ demonstrator* roaming in Shanghai and utilizing China Mobile’s fourth-generation TD-LTE trial network.

As well as highlighting the advances Alcatel-Lucent is making with lightRadio, by connecting to the TD-LTE trial network the call also demonstrated the progress being made by China Mobile in trialling the network in Shanghai, where Alcatel-Lucent has deployed its complete End-to-End 4G LTE solution to advance the delivery of high-speed services to customers in China. The rising ownership of smartphones and the adoption of social networking have increased the need for fast transfer of videos over the internet on the move. Nowhere is this need more evident than in China, where just under half of the world’s new mobile broadband connections were made in 2010.

lightRadio is designed to address the increasing global demand for faster speeds and high quality voice and data services by reducing the size, power consumption and carbon footprint of mobile base stations. Growing demand for high-bandwidth services, such as video and social networking applications, are leading to mobile operators needing to extend their wireless coverage and capacity. At the same time, operators are looking to cut their energy consumption – lightRadio will help reduce both cost of ownership and carbon footprint by dramatically reducing the energy usage of mobile base stations.

Mr. Li Zhengmao, Vice President of China Mobile said: “We are very pleased to see that using Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio, the demo call is successfully linking to the TD-LTE network. Congratulations!”

Wim Sweldens, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless Division said: “This call brings the global commercial reality of lightRadio even closer – and the ability to provide the increased performance and savings that can be made by implementing the technology within an operators’ network.”

Today’s demonstration follows the first transatlantic video call made by Alcatel-Lucent on June 8 this year, when it linked locations in the US and France by lightRadio.