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At the end of 2010, new wireless companies – such as Wind, Mobilicity, Public Mobile and Vidéotron Ltée – were responsible for 30 per cent of all new wireless subscribers.

What is Long-term Evolution?

Long-term Evolution is the umbrella term given to the next phase of mobile transmission technology being developed by the world's leading telecommunications equipment companies. It promises to bring devices and content together. Handset-maker Motorola says that "not only will access to all multimedia content and applications be available anywhere, but the wall between wired and wireless will come down."

Why is it needed?

Analysts track mobile networks by generations. The first generation (1G) supported only voice transmissions. The second generation (2G) provided more capacity and a clearer signal, and eventually added some data transmission. 3G standards now attempt to quench a number of the video and gaming thirsts of smart phones like the BlackBerry and iPhone. But even 3G cannot fully cope with the volume of content generated by multiple users streaming video on their handhelds.

So now fourth generation technologies, like LTE and its chief competitor, WiMax, are on the horizon. LTE could offer download speeds of hundreds of megabits per second - faster than most retail broadband networks offer now, making the Motorola promise plausible.

What do cellphones use now?

Because of deals signed with most European carriers and American networks such as AT&T, GSM (which stands for Global System for Mobile Communications) became the dominant standard in most of the world. The competing second generation format is known as code division multiple access (CDMA), and is used by certain North American carriers such as Bell and Telus.

Because GSM is the global standard, and because it's technologically easier for mobile carriers to switch from GSM to LTE, LTE has an upper hand in gaining a foothold in major markets. That is what makes Nortel's LTE assets potentially valuable.

But not everyone will convert to LTE. Nortel still has a strong lineup of CDMA products, and the assets related to it are packaged with Nortel's LTE assets as part of the bankruptcy court bidding process. Meanwhile, Nokia Siemens, the original bidder for Nortel's LTE assets, has already invested in WiMax, the main competitor to LTE.

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