Long-Term Evolution or LTE (News - Alert) device testing will be now provided by Intertek in its U.S.-based wireless laboratory. Radio Frequency or RF and Radio Resource Management or RRM performance are some of the LTE capabilities of Intertek (News - Alert). Intertek’s other LTE capabilities include Protocol Conformance and data throughput.

Test plans which cover operator-specific LTE features and LTE-CDMA InterRAT operations will also be included in the scope of testing. An announcement in this regard has been made by the top provider of quality and safety services to a wide range of industries around the world, Intertek.

In a release, Gregg Tiemann, who is the chief executive of the commercial & electrical division at Intertek said, "No matter which wireless standards global operators have used in the past, most have announced that LTE is in their immediate future.

LTE is widely regarded as the de facto first step in the mobile broadband technology of the future. Mobile device vendors need fast and cost-effective LTE certification, and as a leader in testing legacy wireless technologies, with today’s announcement, Intertek has entered 4G territory.”

The expected number of LTE subscribers will cross 72 million by 2012. Also the global LTE infrastructure market is expected to reach $5 billion. This information has been provided through a research carried out by Infonetics (News - Alert) Research.

LTE technology provides higher download and upload speeds. End users and operators are also provided low latency and greater efficiency. Operators will be able to handle data traffic at reduced costs with LTE technology. Operators are also provided a single all-IP network. This simplifies infrastructure and also reduces operating costs.

In a release, Tiemann added, “Intertek is now in a position to provide our clients with the most complete array of testing services needed. For the testing of LTE-ready mobile devices, we chose a multi-vendor approach, utilizing equipment from several different companies, including in this first stage, Spirent (News - Alert) Communications, Rohde and Schwarz, and Aeroflex. We will utilize these solutions in addition to others in future installments of our LTE testing capabilities.”

The critical first step test coverage for most of the latest LTE 3rd Generation Partnership Project or 3GPP test specifications and LTE operator test plans is provided to Intertek by all the testing equipment.