According to BNamericas CPqD, Brazil’s largest R&D firm in the telecommunications sphere, has set up the region’s first laboratory for testing and measuring Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G mobile services in the 450MHz band. A statement from CPqD confirms that the inauguration of the lab took place on 19 March at the company’s headquarters in Campinas, in Sao Paulo state. The new facility will focus its efforts on testing terminals/devices for their compliance with the national regulator Anatel’s own standards as well as those of industry standards bodies 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), GCF (Global Certification Forum) and the certification board for mobile operators in North America, PTCRB. It is understood preliminary trials of 450MHz LTE achieved speeds of 25Mbps for download and 12.5Mbps for upload.
In June 2012, Brazil tendered spectrum blocks in the 450MHz band in order to drive broadband take-up in the country’s remote and rural areas. Brazil is seeking to become a leader in 4G in the 450MHz band, the report claims.