Mobile broadband services using next-generation technology will come on the market from 2010, according to one operator.

Ericsson has predicted the rise of Long Term Evolution (LTE), which is reported to be able to reach speeds of up to 154Mb.

However, speaking to ZDNet, Ericsson's UK chief technology officer, John Cunliffe, said that there was still a lot of mileage in the current HSPA 3G technology now in use.

He explained: "The fastest being deployed in the UK at the moment is 7.2Mb but our roadmap continues until 42Mb.

"We can even see that it may be possible for the technology to reach as much as 80Mb… so there is certainly a lot of mileage in HSPA."

In an indication of LTE's attractiveness to operators, T-Mobile USA has announced it is to develop 4G technology, skipping an evolved form of HSPA.