GCF extends LTE certification to additional bands
20 April 2011 The Global Certification Forum (GCF) has further extended its certification scheme for LTE devices to include the 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. GCF certification for LTE now covers a total of four bands: 700, 800, 2100 and 2600 MHz.
The 2100 MHz band (Band 1) is used for LTE in Japan whilst the 2600 MHz band (Band 7) is already in use for LTE services in Scandinavia and is being allocated in other European countries as well as in Australia.
This latest extension to GCF's certification programme has come swiftly after the scheme was activated for LTE in the upper 700 MHz† North American band (Band 13) and 800 MHz European Digital Dividend band (Band 20) in December 2010. The first LTE device was GCF-certified on 31 March 2011.
Developed and maintained by an active partnership of operators, device manufacturers, the test industry and other interested parties, GCF certification provides confidence that new devices are compliant with relevant standards and interoperable with network systems irrespective of infrastructure vendor. Incorporating conformance, interoperability and field testing, GCF certification provides a rigorous but pragmatic assessment of a new device based on standardised test methodologies. Some 400 different 3GPP mobile phones, wireless modems and connected devices from more than 35 manufacturers achieved GCF certification in 2010.
Work continues to bring additional FDD bands² and TDD bands³ within the scheme in support of operators' LTE deployments in different regions of the world. In addition, GCF members are now actively defining the suites of tests required to certify multi-band LTE and mulit-mode LTE/3G/GSM devices.
"We are proud of the progress we are making towards an LTE certification scheme that meets the needs of operators and manufacturers worldwide," said Adriana Nugter, Operations Manager, GCF. "GCF members are already focused on ensuring certification continues to evolve in line with the expanding capabilities of devices as the technology matures."
Ends
† The 700 MHz band (Band 13) is sometimes referred to as upper SMH block C in the USA
² FDD bands currently being brought within LTE certification are: 1800MHz/Band 3; US AWS/Band 4; 850MHz/Band 5
³ TDD bands currently being brought within LTE certification are: 2570-2620 MHz/Band 38; 2300-2400 MHz/Band 40
