With people already confused over what constitutes 4G wireless broadband, the International Telecommunication Union threw another wrinkle into the mix this week by approving IMT-Advanced, which some are already not-really-accurately calling "5G." According to the ITU press release, they've approved new specifications for the next generation of wireless broadband, IMT-Advanced, including LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced (aka WiMax 2). The real benefit? Speeds up to 100 Mbps.

IMT-Advanced would be like putting a fibre optic broadband connection on your mobile phone, making your phone at least 100 times faster than today’s 3G smart phones." -ITU

"IMT-Advanced would be like putting a fibre optic broadband connection on your mobile phone, making your phone at least 100 times faster than today’s 3G smart phones," claims François Rancy, Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, who adds it's not just about speed, but efficiency.

"IMT-Advanced will use radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently making higher data transfers possible on lesser bandwidth, (enabling) mobile networks to face the dramatic increase in data traffic that is expected in the coming years."

The ITU's release is careful to avoid the term 4G or 5G, after the kerfuffle it caused when the organization kowtowed to the whims of U.S. wireless company marketing departments, and allowed pretty much everything but carrier pigeon to be defined as "4G". That resulted in significant consumer confusion to the point where the term was pretty much rendered utterly meaningless.

All you really need to know is that these new standards offer faster and more efficient connectivity -- particularly when the user is in motion. Both AT&T and Sprint have stated they plan to begin upgrading their networks to the standard sometime in 2013.

Surely the more efficient use of bandwidth means you'll be seeing higher usage caps, right? Probably not, since pricing is increasingly not actually tied to network and congestion realities but to investor demand for ever-escalating returns. LTE was supposed to give carriers the ability to raise caps given the added legroom (something engineers will confirm), but instead caps have gotten lower and we've moved away from unlimited data plans despite capacity improvements.