The LTE platform was designed to evolve to support faster and more advanced networks. The next major step in the evolution of LTE is being called LTE-A or LTE-Advanced, and the next step beyond moving closer to 5G has recently been dubbed LTE-Advanced Pro.
One of the primary advances coming into LTE-A is support for channel bandwidths up to 100MHz, 5x the current 20MHz maximum. To achieve this, LTE-A will support combining multiple separate physical channels into a single larger virtual channel.
The design goal for LTE-A is to enable cellular networks to support speeds up to 100Mbps for mobile users, and up to 1Gbps for stationary users.
Just a few years ago, these speeds would have been considered fantastical. Soon they will be available in pockets everywhere.
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