Motorola has been having a busy time of it lately. The main news is that the company has just announced that it is testing the next generation of mobile broadband, being dubbed 4G, which is also going by the name of Long Term Evolution, or LTE.

The trials have been taking place in Swindon, and Motorola has not been shy to make claims that it could see speeds of up to 100Mbps.

If this is the case then it will signify a huge shift in the way that mobile broadband is used, with users no longer having to look at scaled-down versions of websites on their handsets.

Wireless Internet on our phones has proved hugely popular, especially with the new and increasingly-sophisticated smartphones that are appearing on the market all the time.

Joe Cozzolino, the senior vice-president of Motorola Home and Networks Mobility, said that “Motorola is at the forefront of 4G development”, and if it pulls it off then most people will agree with him. Although there has been no release date announced, everyone is hoping that it won’t be far away.

However, reports are now coming out that the recent bad weather to hit the country has led to a halt in testing, which will be hugely frustrating for Motorola, especially as the company is in a battle with WiMax, the follow on from Wi-Fi, to provide the standard next generation of mobile broadband.

On top of this, the company recently posted its fourth quarter results, which painted a dismal picture. It only managed to sell 19.2 million handsets, 6.2 million fewer than in the third quarter and a massive 16.3 million fewer than the same quarter in 2007. This led to a net loss of $3.6 billion, and the company will be hoping that its 4G tests can dig it out of this hole.