LTE-U is a technology developed by Qualcomm that lets a service provider broadcast and receive signals over unlicensed spectrum, which is usable by anybody – specifically, in this case, the spectrum used by Wi-Fi networks in both businesses and homes. By opening up this new spectrum, major U.S. wireless carriers hope to ease the load on the licensed frequencies they control and help their services keep up with demand.
That demand for connectivity continues to grow on a scale that we’re in danger of running out of adjectives to describe – a recent Cisco estimate suggested that monthly global demand could top 24 exabytes (that’s 24 million terabytes) by 2019, a nearly 10-fold increase from today.
