Among all commercially available wireless technologies, 4G long term evolution (LTE) is the fastest, enabling telecom carriers worldwide to meet the growing need for better communication. With the internet being widely accepted as the medium of interaction (for communication between people, as well as people-to-machine and machine-to-machine [M2M]), 4G technology is helping enhance last mile connections, multimedia-rich mobile applications, security applications and cloud computing. Its adoption has led to fewer dropped calls, faster video streaming and enhanced mobile applications due to the high speeds and innovative applications provided by the technology.

Globally, 4G has penetrated deep into the developed markets of the US, the UK and Europe, allowing operators to offer traditional as well as digital services. Players like Vodafone, Verizon and AT&T have rolled out 4G networks and are offering high speed data connectivity bundled with innovative applications at competitive prices. The first 4G network in India was established by Bharti Airtel in 2012, but this did not lead to any kind of revolution in terms of operator offerings. At present, Airtel and Aircel have launched 4G services in India while players like Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and Tikona Digital will be introducing these services shortly.

The demand for better and more innovative applications, along with the increased exchange of data over existing frequency airwaves, will play a key role in the adoption of 4G services in the near term. The growing penetration of 4G networks in the Indian telecom space will facilitate the development of real-time applications like telepresence, navigation, video services and cloud services. Through LTE networks, mobile phones will be able to access speeds equivalent to those provided by cables, thus making applications and services previously available only through wireline connections easily accessible on smart devices. This will provide application developers and internet-based service providers a wide range of business opportunities.

tele.net highlights some of the promising applications that would benefit from the widespread deployment of 4G LTE technology...

Real-time navigation: LTE technology will offer communication service providers different methods to deliver user locations and monetise their networks. On high performance 4G LTE networks, navigation applications will be better equipped to provide the required degree of location accuracy, respond rapidly to location requests, support a large number of user locations with improved scalability, and give timely location updates. Positioning system technologies are constantly evolving, and the network technology needs to keep up for giving the same level of user experience on mobile phones. By providing accurate locations through GPS/ GNS-based systems, LTE will allow users to access a visually rich range of location-based services. Navigation application providers will also be able to offer real-time visual data using the higher 4G network bandwidth. It will go beyond routes drawn on digital maps and allow users to see their virtual destinations before they actually arrive.

Social media: Social media platforms have become the most popular communication method for interacting with friends, family and acquaintances. Internet-based social groups were once primarily based on textual content but with the ease of uploading and downloading large data files through high speed networks, the content focus has now shifted to photos and videos. According to market research, pictures are the most widely shared on social media and account for around 43 per cent of the total content. The use of 4G will allow the easier integration of real-time video and pictures into social networks, as well as multi-way video chats and content streaming, thereby enhancing the nature of online social interaction. In India, the availability of 4G devices on various platforms is expected to drive the uptake of these services.

Telepresence and virtual collaboration: With the help of telepresence solutions, users have been able to create virtual face-to-face environments over a telecom network. This has increased communication speeds and also reduced costs. If 4G technology is used in these virtual collaborations, video meetings can take place anywhere and everywhere on demand, irrespective of the location of participants. Videoconferencing was earlier a hardware-centric technology solution but over the past few years, it has seen a shift towards software-based services. The launch of LTE has given organisations more options and increased flexibility in their use.

M2M applications: Apart from enhan-cing communication between humans, and human-to-machine interactions, 4G network roll-outs will also enable efficient M2M connections. The use of such applications will include synchronisation between home devices, remote surveillance systems, security systems, digital signalling, point of sales as well as telehealth. According to market research, 176 million network connections were being used globally for M2M in 2014. This number is expected to reach 600 million within the next five years on the back of the 4G speed boost. The low latency of 4G networks will improve M2M interaction, apart from enabling information exchange on time-critical applications like emergency systems, traffic control and financial systems to be carried out at a quicker pace. Automotive telematics is another application being seriously considered by developers. The automotive industry can benefit immensely from the high speed mobile broadband connectivity of LTE networks as it works towards realising the vision of driverless cars.

Cloud-based services: Consumer information as well as professional data is being increasingly transported to the cloud, and it has emerged as the most conventional data storage application. Various applications offering data space are now evolving to interact with each other for offloading and storing large amounts of data on the cloud. When combined with high speed networks, cloud services will witness a higher adoption rate, benefiting from the increased upload/download speeds and the higher bandwidths of LTE networks. In addition, a large number of users will be able to simultaneously access data on different devices.

It is just a matter of time before 4G becomes fully integrated with our day-to-day activities. With data consumption on mobile devices going up and the need for on-the-go information becoming greater, end-consumers are now demanding more efficient devices. This has resulted in the emergence of smartphones, tablets, smart wearable devices, and other gadgets embedded with LTE technology. The constantly evolving 4G technology has also created new opportunities for innovators so that they can design and present better applications.