E-Plus tests 1800MHz LTE network

E-Plus, the German mobile unit of Dutch telecoms operator KPN, has announced it successfully completed tests of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the 1800MHz frequency band. The tests were carried out in Bonn last month and involved four LTE base stations supplied by Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson and core network components provided by China’s ZTE. In June 2012 Germany’s telecoms regulator, the Federal Network Agency (FNA, also known as Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA), approved an application from E-Plus to allow the mobile network operator to use its 1800MHz spectrum for the provision of mobile broadband services, such as LTE. Until then the frequencies had been reserved for GSM services only.