The European Commission (EC) said Tuesday it will allocate 18 million euros (25 million U.S. dollars) to boost next generation 4G mobile networks.
The funding is used for research on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology that will offer mobile internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks, the EC said.
The EC said it made the investment decision last month, and the new projects are expected to start in January 2010.
LTE is the latest wireless technology, providing mobile internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, 10 times faster than 3G mobile networks.
LTE Advanced, the enhanced version of LTE, will propel mobile broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit per second, allowing users to fully benefit from sophisticated online services such as high quality TV or video on demand.
"LTE technologies will turn mobile phones into powerful mobile computers. Millions of new users will get ultra high-speed internet access on their portable devices wherever they are. This will create tremendous opportunities and plenty of space for growing the digital economy," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding.
Leading mobile operators and manufacturers around the world have already been committed to using the LTE standard. By 2013, operators worldwide are expected to invest nearly 6 billion euros (8.45 billion dollars) in LTE equipment, according to market analysts.
LTE is currently being trialed by mobile operators in Britain, Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden and is expected to be commercially available in Sweden and Norway in the first half of 2010.