4G LTE is a standard developed by 3GPP for high-speed wireless communication. While it does not fully meet the requirements to be considered a true 4G technology, the ITU later decided that LTE could be marketed as 4G due to technological advances and market pressure. LTE Advanced does meet all the ITU specifications for 4G networks, and is considered the true 4G standard.

1. 4G description

2. Description
• The standard is developed by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership
Project) and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with minor
enhancements described in Release 9. LTE is also called 3.95G and has
been marketed as "4G LTE" and "Advanced 4G";but it does not meet the
technical criteria of a 4G wireless service, as specified in the 3GPP
Release 8 and 9 document series for LTE Advanced. The requirements
were set forth by the ITU-R organisation in the IMT
Advanced specification; but, because of market pressure and the
significant advances that WiMAX, Evolved High Speed Packet Access,
and LTE bring to the original 3G technologies, ITU later decided that LTE
and the aforementioned technologies can be called 4G technologies.The
LTE Advanced standard formally satisfies the ITU-R requirements for
being considered IMT-Advanced.[4] To differentiate LTE Advanced
and WiMAX-Advanced from current 4G technologies, ITU has defined the
latter as "True 4G".

3. Further reading
· TS 36.211 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation
· TS 36.212 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding
· TS 36.213 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures
· TS 36.300 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2
· TS 36.321 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol
specification
· TS 36.331 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol
specification
· TS 36.413 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)
· TS 36.423 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)

4. The motivation for LTE
• Need to ensure the continuity of competitiveness of the 3G system
for the future
• User demand for higher data rates and quality of service
• Packet Switch optimized system
• Continued demand for cost reduction (CAPEX and OPEX)
• Low complexity
• Avoid unnecessary fragmentation of technologies for paired and
unpaired band operation

5. LTE Overview