In the years after that next generation of 3G is deployed, cellular operators will roll out significantly improved technologies. The first of these will be what some people call 3.9G, or Long-Term Evolution (LTE), according to Debrecht. It will offer speeds several times that of current 3G services such as EV-DO, he said.

Current 3G is circuit-based technology, much like what cellular operators have been using for years. That is to say, it's a point-to-point technology in which each connection requires a dedicated circuit. However, LTE will be IP-based, Debrecht said, with the more flexible packet-based routing of such systems.

"It's not quite 4G, which is the system everybody's trying to get to in the long term," Debrecht said. But LTE is OFDMA-based, at least for the downlink, he said. OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) and its follow-on technology, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), are the basis for newer types of wireless broadband, which are discussed in the next section.

LTE is in the middle of the standardization process now, Debrecht said. Optimistically, LTE could be standardized, and infrastructure equipment could be available in as soon as two to three years, he added.

Track 2: Wireless broadband