LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012: Touted as the first live test of the world’s ‘smartest 4G network’,  Telefonica’s new LTE trial network covers the Fira and a five square kilometer area of central Barcelona.

The Spanish operator says this is the first LTE deployment in the 2.6GHz band. The trial network was built by Alcatel-Lucent in their first European LTE win. The trial utilises the first LTE handsets made for the 2.6GHz band; Samsung Galaxy S II smartphones and Galaxy 8.9 tablets.

According to Telefonica, the most outstanding feature of the network is the increased capacity it offers, with each cell able to support 30 simultaneous users with average speeds of 30Mb/s. The network claims to offer a speed gain of up to ten times that being delivered by the 3G network with theoretical peak download speeds of 100Mb/s and upload speeds of 40-60Mb/s.

Telefonica would not be drawn on its future Spanish LTE plans but rumours have been rife for some weeks that the company intends to roll out a nationwide network. This would involve expenditure in excess of US$394 million to provide coverage for 65 percent of the population.