Motorola is the latest mobile phone manufacturer to commit to the industry-wide initiative to accelerate the commercial deployment of next generation technology based on the 3G long term evolution (LTE) standard.

Already committed to the 3GPP LTE standard, Motorola has joined the LTE/System Architecture Evolution (SAE) Trial Initiative (LSTI) which is aiming to ensure interoperability of LTE mobile broadband systems.

Motorola has been selected by Verizon Wireless and Vodafone to participate in their joint LTE trials during 2008.

LSTI is a global LTE trial initiative launched last May 2007 by telecoms companies Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Invovement has since extended to include China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, NXP, Samsung, Signalion, Telecom Italia, Qualcomm, ZTE, Rohde and Schwarz, and now Motorola.

In February, the initiative completed a second round of LTE tests which verified that the technology can achieve broadband quality download speeds.

According to Pekka Sarlund, v-p of wireless modems, Nokia: "In order to meet increased bandwidth demands in a cost-effective manner, networks need to evolve; they need to be faster and more efficient. LSTI is producing tangible test results proving that LTE can do all this."