The Global Certification Forum (GCF) extends its mobile device certification scheme to encompass lower LTE frequency bands.
As of mid-December, the GCF’s certification process will be applied to LTE devices designed to operate in either the 700 MHz band or the 800 MHz European Digital Dividend band.
Work to extend the scheme to other bands is already well advanced, according to a GCF statement that says further bands could be brought within the certification scheme as early as this month.
The GCF’s LTE Certification program has been around since early 2008, with an initial focus on three FDD bands – 700 MHz (USA), 2100 MHz (Japan) and 2600 MHz (Europe) – and two TDD bands (2570-2620 MHz and 2300-2400 MHz [China/USA]).
However, the GCF has had to adopt a more flexible approach to quickly to accommodate new bands as they have been made available, a point that hit home last year when it began receiving requests to extend LTE Certification to the 1800 MHz band widely used by operators in Europe and Asia and, more recently, the 800 MHz European Digital Dividend band.