The European Union said Tuesday it will invest 25 million into research that will underpin the next generation of 4G mobile networks.

The EU says the funding will go towards research on Long Term Evolution LTE Advanced technology, that will offer mobile Internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks. The funding will be released on January 1, 2010.With LTE technologies, Europes research knowhow will continue to set the tone for the development of mobile services and devices around the globe, just as we did in the past decades with the GSM standard, said Viviane Reding, the EUs Commissioner for Telecoms and Media.Viviane RedingEuropean CommissionLTE technologies will turn mobile phones into powerful mobile computers.