The International Telecommunication Union announced the specifications for next-generation mobile technologies – IMT-Advanced or 4G – after the ITU Radiocommunication Assembly meeting in Geneva. The ITU reported that LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced technologies would be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced, comprising requirements for 4G standards.
The ITU had initially agreed in late 2010 on giving LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced, which is derivative of the WiMAX standard, its official 4G designation. However, the ITU altered those stiff requirements to allow carriers to market current versions of LTE and WiMAX using the “4G” designation.
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IMT-Advanced systems include new capabilities that go beyond IMT-2000, widely deployed since 2000 and referred to as 3G mobile technologies.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said during the announcement that IMT-Advanced marks a huge leap and will make the present day smartphone feel like an old dial-up Internet connection. In addition, François Rancy, director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, said that new standards make it at least 500 times faster than today’s 3G smartphones, since IMT-Advanced will use radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently making higher data transfers possible on less bandwidth.
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