Download Presentation : India Telecom Update 1H 2010v0.1

As we approach the middle of 2010, then, it’s worthwhile revisiting the state of the LTE global network deployment.

Operators are still looking for vendors with solutions that allow LTE to be launched as an overlay or as part of a 2G/3G network renewal. Th ey’re still looking to pair LTE launches with new applications and services (including voice, some day).

The positioning of 4G has been a real point of debate among operators. Last week MetroPCS has launched world’s first LTE commercial handsets on its new LTE network with positioning as new 4G service against its 3G with unlimited data, text, voice, Video and new content agreements with real etc. We witnessed Sprint doing something similar with their new WiMAX based 4G core. We saw high average data consumption at Clearwire (currently at 7 GB/mo) – clearly a precursor of what’s to come with new 4G networks.

Alcatel Lucent, Huawei, Ericsson , NSN ,Samsung and ZTE are competing to become market leaders in LTE based 4G Infrastructure. However, it’s much too early to translate commercial or trial reference numbers into clear indications of market leadership – though they may well support mind share leadership.

Source: Current Analysis

LTE Early Deployments and Market Drivers

In any new market, the first commercial deployments are always highly scrutinized; they provide insights into how a technology works, what it can deliver, its state of maturity, and how future launches can be improved. LTE is no different, meaning all eyes will be on launches in the Nordics (Telia Sonera), North America (Verizon Wireless, Metro PCS) and Asia (DoCoMo, KDDI).

Data Cards and Dongles. Talk with any operator or vendor involved with LTE and you will hear the technology positioned as a solution for addressing growing mobile traffic to PCs, laptops, smartphones, featurephones, consumer electronics, sensors and everything in between. For the next year, however, data cards and USB dongles will dominate usage, based on the relative lack of device diversity in the early days of a market along with early users focused primarily on laptop and netbook data access.

Data Services. Th e focus of early LTE device availability on data devices (axiomatic of any new mobile broadband technology) implies that early services will focus on data. More specifically, it implies that despite operator and vendor eff orts to standardize voice delivery over LTE networks, voice services won’t be an integral part of most LTE off ers for the next 12 months or so. Where they are, they will come thanks to existing 2G/3G coverage and CS fallback.

North America & Asia. The Nordics may have enjoyed the world’s first commercial LTE services, but broader momentum will first register in North America and Asia. Credit relatively new HSPA (and HSPA+) networks in Europe and Latin America along with relatively recent (or future) spectrum availability that will make commercial LTE in markets like Europe, and India a medium to long-term proposition.

Biz Model Explorations. Where LTE services (trial, commercial or otherwise) are launched, operators will leverage the opportunity to test out their assumptions around the technology from a business perspective. How will users react to policy decisions around usage caps? What applications will dominate usage? How will LTE free capacity (or drive usage) on 2G and 3G networks? Will indoor vs. outdoor usage patterns mimic 2G and 3G? We are already seeing these details from the early experience of TeliaSonera; and more of these findings – benefitting from a greater sample of users – will follow.

Operators Buying Criteria

Operators planning on LTE deployments in the near-term need to query their network vendors on their support for voice thanks to circuit-switched fallback (CSFB). Where the IMS-based VOLTE has become the de facto LTE voice plan for the industry, it’s not going to be a near-term option for most operators. Few vendors, however, have done much to highlight their CSFB capabilities or commercial solutions – making it key for operators to verify them.

• Like any new mobile broadband technology, data devices will dominate initial LTE launches. For LTE to become the mass-market success operators envision for it, the technology needs to move beyond PC cards and dongles. Speeding this process will require operators to make their demands well known, working closely with vendors to drive supply.

• Operators need to consider leveraging LTE launches to introduce new policy tools into their business. EV-DO, HSPA and HSPA+ launches have taught the market that fully monetizing mobile broadband services will require new ways of charging for usage, throttling usage and offerring tiered experiences. It may be diffi cult to add these new policies on top of existing services – making the launch of new network like LTE a logical starting point.

• WiMAX operators may to consider TD-LTE as a future network evolution. With vendors reiterating their commitment to 802.16m, there’s no need for operators to worry that WiMAX as a technology will cease to advance. Regardless, broad mobile operator interest virtually ensures that LTE will enjoy scale and ecosystem efficiencies over WiMAX – with TD-LTE offering a solution for WiMAX operator unpaired spectrum assets. To this end, it makes sense for operators to hedge their bets with solutions and vendors that can support both technologies.

Dowload PDF : LTE- Mid Year Review

( View expressed here are my own and does not reflect my employers opinion )

In the recent years, the ARPU from voice service has been declining due to the factors of discounted services and shorter phone calls. DOCOMO has seen downward trend in aggregate ARPU and is planning to offset this by taking steps to increase packet ARPU. In FY 2010, the ARPU from packet service is expected to surpass voice ARPU. To strengthen packet based services and reverse downtrend of aggregate ARPU, DoCoMo is planning to promote usage of flat-rate service. In FY 2009, the revenues from voice declined 12.9% year-on-year and aggregate ARPU declined 6.3% year-on-year. Packet revenue grew 2.9% year-on year and expected to surpass voice ARPU in FY, 2010. DOCOMO is aiming to increase packet ARPU by 4.5% in FY 2010.

In FY 2010, revenue from data is expected to reach $ 29.30 surpassing voice ARPU of 29.10.

Initiatives to strengthen Data Services by introduction of Flat Rate Service: DoCoMo has taken initiatives to expand its packet usage to offset declining Voice ARPU by promoting monthly flat rate services like i-mode. I-mode packet service allows monthly flat rate which varies in accordance with monthly usage. The operator in July 2009, as well introduced a flat rate data plan for data cards to enhance its data services. It aims to increase packet flat rate subscription by more than 6 million to reach 31.70 million subscriptions in FY10, i.e. 63% of total consumers.

Promote packet communications by enhanced services and content: DoCoMo is working to expand its lineup services and content. The operator will take steps to expand subscriptions and usage among a broad range of customers by expanding to areas closely linked to lifestyles, such as tourism and health care. Mobile phone usage is expanding rapidly with the availability of higher speed networks and more advanced handsets, but most of the video content that is available for handsets user is not optimized to smaller screens. DOCOMO is moving ahead with development of content that suits well for mobile phones and smaller screens ( about 3 to 4 inch). BeeTV launched in May, 2009 was one of those initiatives. DOCOMO is developing handsets functions which would be more suitable for replaying videos and other contents by introducing inline Flash.

Promote smart phone adoptions to strengthen data services. The market strategy of promoting smart phones with advanced functions rivaling those of mobile PC’s, such as general purpose operating systems, Internet connections capabilities, schedule managers, and personnel information management, as well as PC data cards, is positioned as an important part of efforts to expand packet ARPU. DOCOMO, principally targeting enterprise demand to strengthen its promotion of smart phones and data cards for PCs.

Initiatives of more advanced networks by introducing LTE: In 2009, DOCOMO introduced HSUPA services, which has the capability to deliver maximum uplink transmission rate of 5.7 Mbps . DOCOMO plans to launch LTE based services in December 2010. It aims to install nearly 1000 Base Station in FY 2010. The rollout will be progressive with high demand areas (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya) will be covered first using an overlay approach with existing 3G areas. Downlink speeds up to 37.5 Mbps will be offered at the time of launch. DOCOMO plans to introduce data devices first and smart phones are scheduled in 2011.

In FY 2010, DOCOMO will Launch LTE in high demand areas (Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya). It aims to install 1000 Base Stations in FY 2010

OFDMA based 4G networks can support reuse one deployment through the use of;

• Ability to power control and vary the coding rate of control channel;

• Fractional power control with coordination with controller based overload control messages in UL;

• Support of very low code rates;

• Incremental redundancy based HARQ;

• DL and UL ICIC further enhance single cell frequency reuse;

• Multi-Antenna techniques.

One of the key goals is to increase spectral efficiency and overall SINR of the system. However, users at the cell edge are particularly susceptible to increased interference resulting in reduced throughput due to higher transmit powers required and inter-cell interference. Therefore Interference coordination as methods to reduce inter cell interference is gaining momentum and industry attention.

Figure 1: Intercell interference scenarios

Fractional Frequency Reuse

: In its simplest form is Fractional frequency re-use (FFR) implements a reuse scheme-n (n > 1) system. A reuse-n system partitions a geographical area into n regions, each of which is exclusively allocated to a band in such a way that cells physically close to each other are assigned with different bands to avoid dominant ICI. Cells that are sufficiently far from each other may reuse the same band, and how frequently the reuse is practiced is dictated by the reuse factor n. For instance, n = 3 if the same band is reused every three cells. However, segmenting frequency re-use suffers from reduced spectral efficiency.

Therefore FFR in 4G systems(LTE and WIMAX) tries to define a sweet spot where the cell center of neighboring cells share the same band, while their cell edge are separate on orthogonal bands. Besides, the cell-center and cell-edge bands in neighboring cells are non-overlapping. The colour on the spectrum is shown to match the colour of the geographical area.

Figure 2: Illustration of Fractional Frequency Reuse

Possible ICIC implementation in LTE

ICIC in downlink

Two common implementations that will be supported for Downlink ICIC are static and semi-static. Static ICIC is initially planned which also includes the need for some level of system planning. Semi-static ICIC utilizes an event triggered message (RNTP) over the X2 interface and reduces the system planning impact. Relative Narrowband Tx Power (RNTP) is transmitted when the Tx power exceeds a specified threshold. The frequency of the RNTP transmission is limited to no more than 200 ms to prevent overload of messaging.

DL Static ICIC implementation: Figure 3 shows the concept of DL ICIC using inverted Reuse scheme. Some restricted PRBs (also called non-preferred frequency zones) are defined per each cell and the base stations transmit at a certain constant nominal power across the entire bandwidth except for those restricted PRBs. The restricted PRBs can be transmitted at a lower power (e.g. 10 dB lower than the nonrestricted PRBs) which results in a soft fractional frequency reuse scheme or there may not be any transmissions at all in the restricted PRBs which results in a hard fractional frequency reuse scheme.

Each cell can then schedule its cell edge users in the restricted PRBs of its closest neighbor and hence they can realise an improved SINR as the neighboring cell is transmitting with a lower power or not transmitting at all on those PRBs. The classification of users is done in two groups: cell inner users and cell edge users. Reporting of the users can be done based on some metrics such as path loss for UL or CQI reporting for DL.

Figure 3: Downlink ICIC static implementation

ICIC in uplink

Two implementations also exist for Uplink ICIC. Static ICIC includes the need for some level of system planning. Semi-static ICIC utilizes an event triggered message (HII and OI) over the X2 interface and reduces the system planning impact. High Interference Indicator (HII) and Overload Indicator (OI) are event triggered messages. HII is sent indicating the PRBs and subbands where the serving cell intends on scheduling cell edge UEs and thereby causing high interference. OI is sent indicating low, medium, or high interference levels. Care needs to be taken when utilizing ICIC in a multi-vendor eNB environment, as the behavior of the eNB is implementation specific when receiving ICIC related indicators.

Figure 4: Uplink ICIC implementation

DL Static ICIC implementation: In the uplink, the main idea is to concentrate all interference in specific portions of the bandwidth, known as the Trash Heap. Figure 4 shows the concept of the Trash Heap which consists in designating a portion of the bandwidth in each cell to bear the brunt of the interference from neighboring cells. As for DL, the users are classified in two groups, inner cell and cell edge users, using a any algorithm based on CQI reports for DL and path loss estimation for UL. And as for DL, the soft fractional frequency reuse concept is applied and included in the concept of Trash Heap. For cell edge mobiles, the uplink scheduler will assign resources in the Trash Heap of the mobile’s strongest neighbouring cell, which is identified by event triggered reporting. If the scheduler needs to assign the mobile outside the Trash Heap, it does so with a reduced transmit power spectral density (PSD) level, which is implemented through an absolute power control command in the UL scheduling grant. The idea here is to concentrate the bulk of the inter-cell interference in a small portion of the total bandwidth, thereby preventing the majority of the users from getting impacted by this interference which is now localized to certain sub-carriers.

Possible ICIC implementation in WiMAX

WiMAX Release 1.0 allows reuse 1 deployments, however most of the commercial systems are deployed in reuse3. The initial implementation of WiMAX in reuse 1 will be realized by FFR based techniques. Specific implementation of FFR techniques is presented in WIMAX 1.5 and WiMAX 2.0 papers.

The effect of inter-cell interference in reuse 1 systems of WiMAx results in MAP and traffic performance degradation especially in cell edge areas. Interference mitigation technique is needed to alleviate the cell edge performance degradation. Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) may be used as the key technique for making reuse 1 work better.
ICIC implementation in WiMAX is possible with signaling information exchanges within Base stations over R8 interfaces.

Possible implementation of ICIC in downlink:

The WiMAX systems can implement DL ICIC to solve DL inter-cell interference problem in reuse 1 systems.

• It can automatically adjusts both frequency usage and Tx power pattern considering interference pattern from neighboring cells
  
• Edge user throughput is increased by coordinating inter-cell interference which is needed to exchange scheduling information among BSs
  

Possible implementation of ICIC in uplink:

• Automatically controls MS Tx power based on load information exchanged among BSs
  
• It is needed to exchange scheduling information and measurement reports form MS
  

Figure 5: ICIC implementation in WiMAX

Download PDF Version Enabling reuse 1 in 4G Networksv0.1

Global spectrum availability for LTE

The initial deployment in LTE is expected in 700 MHz for the US, 2.1 GHz for Japan and 2.6 GHz in Europe. The 2.3/2.5 GHz TDD band for deployment is available in China, India. The new LTE systems will support existing bands of GSM/W-CDMA/HSPA, as most of the devices will support multiband operation, and it will allow operators to smoothly introduce LTE services in dense markets and gradually proliferate for a national coverage. A brief update of spectrum availability for LTE is presented below.

United States: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in April 2008 auctioned 62 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for LTE services. The band is highly prized because the low frequency, as it allows signals to travel farther and provide better in-building coverage than higher frequencies such as 1900 MHz. As a result, operators need fewer base stations to cover an area, which translates into lower overhead costs—a major asset for any operator looking to be aggressive on the pricing front.

Verizon Wireless was the biggest winner in the 700 MHz auction. The other big winner of the spectrum was AT&T. AT&T bid for fewer licenses than Verizon, having won much of the spectrum it wanted in FCC auctions held in 2002 and 2003.

Europe: Norway, Finland and Sweden auctioned their spectrum in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. This year the Netherlands and Denmark have concluded their 2.6GHz auctions, the auction in Germany is completed and some point during 2010 (France, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium are all expected to hold auctions this year).

Germany: A total of 41 spectrum blocks was sold in the auction, in the 800MHz, 1.8GHz, 2GHz and 2.6GHz bands. The three largest mobile operators, O2, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, each won two paired 5MHz chunks of spectrum in the 800MHz band, considered key for rural coverage of mobile broadband.

China and India: 2.3 GHz TDD frequency is recently allocated to 3 operators in India. In china 2.3/2.5 GHz spectrum is available for LTE deployments. Both the spectrum in India and China is TDD type.

Japan: In Japan, 2.1 GHz and 1.5 GHz spectrum is available for LTE Deployments.

Download the full article here…Operators LTE spectrum and Deployment Choicesv0.1

The LTE camp is euphoric about Qualcomm wining four circles which further got comprehensive media attention as Reliance controlled Infotel expressed their interest towards LTE. All the other players like Aircell ,Bharti, Augere and Tikona is watching Reliance controlled Infotel’s move for BWA deployment

The WiMAX camp spearheaded by Samsung, Hauwei and ZTE will try to convince Infotel for immediate WiMAX deployment to enter market in similar timelines as 3G. The strategy is not impending from the fact that they do not have a LTE roadmap, but rather their eagerness to enter the agreement with Infotel and secure their mobile data business.

The companies which are involved in TDD LTE system development are ALU, Ericson, Motorola, Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Samsung to name few. Huawei has a working trial network in china shanghai, followed by Motorola who has also deployed TDD LTE indoors. Nokia Siemens in a bid to be the part of big LTE ecosystem from China has opened a new lab Hangzhou R&D facility.

Most of the suppliers are working towards ensuring their base stations are ready as early as possible to grab markets share where WiMAX is gaining momentum especially at TDD space in India. In bid to accelerate uptake and proliferation of LTE, suppliers are aggressively developing LTE systems and strengthening ecosystem. The case of LTE in India is especially promoted by QUALCOMM, Nokia, ALU and Ericsson.

The new BWA operators are midst of this battle of titans who are ensuring their interests in mobile data business in India. In this short article I would like to present my own findings to provide new BWA operators with sufficient data to decide their technology choice and decisions. The data is collected from various research reports, direct discussions and Industry news.

TDD LTE Base Station availability for India BWA operators

Supplier who has WiMAX experience and are working for LTE products will become the first to supply LTE TDD trial equipments in Indian market. It is expected that ALU, Motorola and Huawei can quickly demonstrate a working LTE TDD systems followed by Nokia and Ericsson in a quarter or later. Trials are expected to happen in Q4-2010 time-frame. Readiness to ship equipment for mass scale deployment of LTE TDD is not expected to happen before Q1/Q2-2011.

LTE TDD Devices Availability

The most interesting of all is the LTE TDD device ecosystems. Let me report some broad time-lines based on my data which I have captured over period of time talking to industry experts and analysis reports.

• The commercial availability of chipsets will start as early as Q3, 2010 and most of them would be ready by Q1-2011.
• Most reasonably it will at least take one quarter more for ODM’s to supply finished products i.e. Q2-2011.
• We have experienced from wimax that time to complete device interoperability’s cannot be shortened beyond a specific period of time and hence the devices ecosystem would most likely to be ready by Q2-2011.Only USB dongles are expected in this time frame.
• Expect additional one quarter for Indoor Devices

When do we see handsets and Smartphone’s in LTE TDD?

• The commercial availability of chipsets for handsets and Smartphone’s is not expected before Q2- 2011.
• Most reasonably it will at least take one to two quarter more for ODM’s to supply finished products.
• It is reasonable to expect readiness of handsets by 2012

It is my estimation that most operators will launch their 3G services by November 2010. Four 3G operators per circle are expected to launch services apart from the old mobile data players who are operational with Ev-Do Technology.

• It is critical for BWA operator to launch their mobile data services in similar timelines otherwise the operator will face intense competition and early market entry benefit will be lost.
• If BWA is launched in similar timeline as those in line with 3Goperators the chances of mobile data from BWA technology ( WiMAX today, LTE later ) can succeed in winning a bigger market share.

  

• Ability to offer QoS , time and volume based unlimited plans will play an important role is customer behaviors in choosing mobile broadband networks as wireline is very limited in country.
• It is imperative to launch services before 3G operators or parallel with 3G operators to take that early lead and outperform competition to become market leader.

Finally, I have presented that it is reasonable to expect a mature TDD LTE ecosystem evolving around only after Q2-2011 for commercial deployments. Up to this period acquiring customers and retaining market share could be the best strategy for BWA operators. WiMAX could be explored for immediate deployment. It is imperative for BWA operator to start the services in the similar timelines when 3G networks are made available to compete and take the early market entry advantage. A long term strategy could be centered on or around TDD-LTE with initial deployment happening in WiMAX with migration plan towards LTE TDD. The Migration to LTE can be achieved in phased manner as suppliers are developing LTE products and in most cases it can be seamlessly upgraded with new software’s and channel cards. Operator can also look to 16m migration which has an added advantage of reusing existing devices.

Note: Views expressed here are my own and by no means reflect my company’s opinion. You can ask for more detailed analysis report at admin@beyond4g.org

When I first started observing people’s relationships and routines with television, things were rather straightforward: some people had DVRs while others still used VHS, some downloaded movies from file sharing sites while others bought pirated DVDS or rented from a local shop, some had TV on 24/7 while others consciously limited TV. The lines between TV, PC and mobile phones were rather firmly set with particular types of activities and content adhering to each device, content not typically shifting screens and communication between or among them infrequent or requiring a particular level of technical know-how. Today, as more people adopt new internet-enabled devices and services, people’s daily media consumption is extending far beyond the reach of the stationary, shared television sets offering TV channels.

Often people ask me, what is the base line bandwidth requirement to enable Internet TV? The amount of data rate required is dependent on number of factors especially type of video format, frames per second, resolution etc. On high level a standard definition based TV in MPEG 4 format will require at least 2 Mbps or a HD quality video will require an 8 mbps sustained connection.

And Video does not stop here ….

The web has completely changed the aspects with introduction of laptops and now with the introduction with Smartphone’s. But even, today the web has very limited adoption in the premier entertainments devices in your living room, the TV. So we stuck there, there are two completely different world. The one world has all your favorite web videos and your favorite websites, while other has the traditional TV experience.

Ways to provide video service over the 4G Networks

Unicast : Using a unicast services flow based on user request ( and attaching a QoS profile to the services class. ) . Signaling is carried out on every service flow while creating, change or deletion over air interface between BTS and MS. The required air resources increase in proportion with number of users.

Broadcast mode: The broadcast mode is a unidirectional point-to-multipoint transmission of multimedia data (e.g. text, audio, picture, video) from a single source entity to all users in a broadcast service area. The broadcast mode is intended to efficiently use radio/network resources e.g. data is transmitted over a common radio channel. Data is transmitted in the broadcast service area as defined by the network (Home environment).

Multicast mode: The multicast mode allows the unidirectional point-to-multipoint transmission of multimedia data (e.g. text, audio, picture, video) from a single source point to a multicast group in a multicast service area. The multicast mode is intended to efficiently use radio/network resources e.g. data is transmitted over a common radio channel. Data is transmitted in the multicast service area as defined by the network (Home environment). In the multicast mode there is the possibility for the network to selectively transmit to cells within the multicast service area which contain members of a multicast group.

However, whether to implement MBMS or to use Unicast Video for TV services should be carefully studied. I have personally not seen any MBMS commercial network case study yet, and have not heard any network with a committed implementation plan, either. Unicast-based mobile IPTV has commercial business cases and considered to be a more practical solution.

The unicast based IPTV is expected to be more widely accepted and has immediate takers. The new initiative by Google and their partners like sony,Logitech and intel called Google TV is testimonial to the trend. Mobile broadband networks like LTE and WiMAX will accelerate the adoption on video over internet. It’s a fascinating time in TV land. According to Google, more than 4 billion people are TV users. That’s higher than cell phone and computer users combined. Americans watch TV about 5 hours a day, and spend many more hours on the Internet – often doing both at the same time.And my guess is, we will see 10X more innovation on the TV in the next five years versus the past decade.

Watch this video featuring Google, Intel, Sony, best buy, Logitech, adobe and dish network CEOs talking about the new internet TV which will be released commercially this fall.

Suggested Reading;

Change is inevitable and growth is intentional

Managing Data Networks

The industry around 4G FDD is clearly evolving towards LTE as major operators committed their plans or intentions to move into LTE. However, the 4G TDD path for LTE is not going to be an easy ride owing to the competition from WiMAX. Most of the current WiMAX deployments are in TDD and operators would certainly like to recover their investments before migrating to any other evolving technologies in near future.

Operators have also realized that the investments made in building network based on WiMAX TDD cannot be turned in to LTE-TDD overnight even if they like to. Clearwire for instance acquired more than 300k subscriber last quarter marking its entry to 1 Million mobile broadband clubs. If they choose to migrate to LTE, what will happen to those 1M wimax devices? By the time TDD LTE matures clearwire will acquire anywhere between 3 to 5 Million subscribers and upgrading a 5 Million serving WiMAX network to a new TDD LTE RAN might just not be a practical case. I am sure Yota , UQ, Atheeb, Taiwanese WiMAX operators and new WiMAX deployments expected in India would also face with similar dilemma.

It appears like operators too has recognized the fact and asked leading 16e suppliers to take 16m research and development in priority and show them a working 16m system quickly. The ecosystem of 16m could be as large as TDD-LTE or better since all WiMAX TDD operators will naturally migrate to 16m, while the only operator who is behind TDD-LTE is China Mobile. If Indian BWA operators choose WiMAX path than odds are quite high that 16m TDD ecosystem may supersede TDD-LTE.

Samsung, Motorola and Huawei may demonstrate a working 16m trail systems to their operators by end of this year. IEEE standardization is on track and it is expected to release final 16m draft by Q1 2011. Sequans and Beceem plans to release 16e/16m based engineering samples in early 2011. The development effort for migrating core network elements like ASN-GW, AAA and others to 16m is estimated minimal and hence early readiness can be expected.

The whole battle of LTE vs WiMAX is basically turning around two facades. First, It is highly publicized that Performance of LTE –TD based system will be superior to 16e. Second, TD-LTE ecosystem will bring vast economy of scale to operators. I spent some time to figure out the performance of TD-LTE and WiMAX 16e. Since WiMAX 16e doesn’t support 20 Mhz channels, on a 10 MHz of channel bandwith following observations were noted.

• Most of the current WiMAX deployments are on a reuse 3 network. If WiMAX is deployed in reuse 3 network and LTE is deployed in Reuse 1 network, than performance of WiMAX systems is better than LTE Rel 8. Data presented below is measured in different commercial wimax networks and LTE is based in NGMN simulations.

  

• LTE Rel 8 was ratified recently (2009), and in LTE release 8 special attentions were given to introduce methods to circumvent interference and improve overall network efficiency. 16e if deployed in reuse 1 scenario will perform inferior as compared to LTE Rel8. This is one of the major rationales behind most of the 16e deployments in 30MHz of spectrum.
• 16m is expected to be deployed in reuse 1 networks and has more advanced interference mitigation techniques and supports even higher spectral efficiency than LTE Rel 8.

  

WiMAX Forum recognized these aspects and in the last general meeting at Taiwan, they have included features like interference mitigation, frequency reuse 1 support, downlink beamforming and 4X2 Mimo in their technology roadmap for 2010. Roadmap features will be further enhanced to support IMT-A requirement by 2012 with introduction to 4×4 Mimo, self organizing networks, multicarrier and enhanced locations services.

It would be interesting to see how the 4G TDD ecosystem shapes but definitely 16m has a important role to play.

Suggested Articles:

• 16m for operators
• IEEE expects WiMAX 2 standardization by summer
• MIMO Schemes in 16m

Mangos are my favorite summer fruit. I buy most of my mangoes in Mumbai at a nearby local shop. Back in my hometown we buy most of the mangos from local mango market; otherwise it comes from our mango farms. I am on vacations these days and visiting my parents in my hometown. Yesterday , in a cheerful mood my mother said, why don’t you sell those excess mangos to market? I was all excited to experience the selling session of mangos in the local mango market. Fortunately our mangos are of good quality and I was eager to make a good impression of skilled mango seller in front of my parents.

The way mango is sold in my hometown is quite different than here in Mumbai. Here you can sell them at one tenth of the price you will most likely sell in Mumbai. The rationale could be availability of low wage workers, low transportation and maintenance cost cost and mango farms etc. In fact the average monthly income of the people residing in Maihar(the name of my hometown) is 5 to 10 times lower than average monthly income of people in Mumbai. After selling my mangos it came to my mind, why can’t we have different charging mechanism in broadband for different cities based on their paying capabilities and social economic factors? After all you can’t sell Mercedes to everyone.

By evening we sold our mangos and I was talking to my old school acquaintance, a mutual friend of ours asked me, is there a way to take lessons in civil engineering without attending college, since my parents cannot afford expenditure of a formal education? He further explained that to me that in his past he has worked in building state roads, small dams, culverts and duplex houses. I actually consoled him by saying, “Nor Bill Gates or Steve Jobs had formal engineering degrees but they generated more jobs than others”. Nurture your passion with persistence and backed by a burning desire, I am sure nothing in the world will come in your way. However I was eager to show him the free lessons available in the internet by the top professors of the country in the field of civil engineering. The lessons were recorded and brought to the people of country by a new initiative by government of India. (Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/nptelhrd )

The only internet connection available for most of the citizen of country residing in other than top 100 cities is through 2G networks like CDMA 1X or GPRS. My CDMA 1X connection was not capable to show him a working streaming video, however he got the suggestion that internet has many promising possibilities for him. If he can get a working internet connection he might learn continuously and improve himself while taking care of his farms.

I do not see a rationale of charging similar broadband prices which is applicable in metro cities to other parts of country. The cost of spectrum, tower rentals, maintenance and manpower is low as compared to metro cities in rural cities and charging mechanism shall apportions these factors. Everyone is interested in showcasing the grandeur speeds of LTE networks or their new 4G WiMAX RAN. It is true that the first LTE network in Telisonera are capable of supporting over 70 Mbps in 10 MHz channels and over 130 Mbps in 20 MHz channels in Sweden and Norway.

(Note : 1 USD is equal to 7.1 SEK)

For a 30 GB connection the monthly broadband price of US$ 85 in Sweden is less than 3% of their gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita. The cost of a 3 GB wireless data connection in rural India is roughly more than 10% of their gross domestic product at purchasing power parity per capita.

I am sure you will recognize that the debate of tiered charging, data offloading and other business models of 4G data is good for intellectual minds, but we need more common sense from the people who has the power to change
the scenario of broadband in country. At least I understood that the mango traders of Mumbai and Maihar know for sure that the charging mechanism of metro and rural India cannot be made same. I expect more common sense from government, operators and broadband policy makers to enable some of my school mates to take civil engineering lessons while taking care of their farms and cattle’s.

Suggested Reading:

• State and opportunity of broadband in India
• It’s not wise to sell Mercedes to everyone

These new generation compact BTSs can be installed in single-sector or multiple-sector configurations as alternatives to Macro BTSs with remote radio heads (RRHs).Unlike traditional macro BTSs, compact BTSs do not require ground shelters and cooling equipment, yet they need not compromise on high-performance features such as support for multiple antennas and beamforming.

The new genre of base stations has the following characteristics which will help operators to remain profitable in data networks. The business of data networks is quite different than voice. Typically operators have to support 100 times more data delivery in almost similar ARPU as compared to Voice. Advancements in MIMO technology and larger chucks of spectrum are playing an important role in shaping evolution of mobile broadband networks; however the emergence of new generation of compact base stations is supporting operators to reduce capex and opex.

• Support for larger channel bandwidths upto 20 MHZ with typical processing capability of over 170 mbps per channel cards in baseband. Multiple 20 MHz carrier aggregation can be supported in this new genre of base stations with multiple channel cards and Remote radio heads.

• Support of the multi-carrier technology (With software configuration, one sector supports multiple carriers to provide larger capacity. In this way, the number of new sites required for capacity expansion decreases, and the capacity expansion cost is cut down.)

• The advancement in Power amplifiers efficiency has helped operator to reduce their power requirement at least by a factor of half.

  

• The Remote radio heads can be extended up-to 1 kilometers as their connectivity is based on CPRI/OBSAI interface and has fiber as a interface.

• New distributed base stations works in natural cooling mode without any cooler and reduces power consumption.

• Migration

  • WiMAX 16e to WiMAX 16m: This can be easily achieved by replacing the channel cards and upgrading the software to WiMAX 16m. If WiMAX 16e and WiMAX 16m use the same frequency, the RRH need not be replaced. Otherwise, the RRH must be replaced.

  • WiMAX 16e to LTE+/TDD: This configuration can be supported by replacing the channel cards and upgrading the software to LTE. If WiMAX 16e and LTE use the same frequency, the RRH may not be required to change. Otherwise, the RRH must be replaced.

• The new 4G base stations are compact ,light, and supports multiple installation modes to reduce the footprint and the labor cost. The RRH are mostly small and light (<21 kg), and thus it can be installed on a pole, tower, wall, or support. In addition, the RRH can be installed near the antenna system to decrease feeder length and loss so that the feeder cost is reduced.

• The Baseband units can be installed in the 19-inch cabinet such as the GSM cabinet or outdoor shelter to avoid extra investment, as shown in below figure.

  

An Excellent White paper written by Monica Paolini from Senza Fili Consulting highlightsing advantages operators can achieve by using these new compact base stations. With a smaller footprint, lighter weight, and much lower power consumption, they cost less to install and to operate. Operators can save 38% to 47% in capex and opex over a five-year period as per the report.

Download paper here

Picture Source: Motorola

Suggesting reading: Wireless access strategies for operators

]]> http://www.beyond4g.org/innovation-driving-4g-networks/feed 1 http://www.beyond4g.org/td-lte-gaining-momentum http://www.beyond4g.org/td-lte-gaining-momentum#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:12:05 +0000 BP Tiwari http://www.beyond4g.org/td-lte-gaining-momentum The industry around TD-LTE is gaining momentum and the appeal of TD-LTE has widened well beyond China. The recent announcement of Qualcomm to bid for TDD spectrum in India to support a TD-LTE deployment confirms the emergence of TD-LTE as global technology, likely to command a substantial market share.

First of all, China mobile is behind TDD LTE global adoption. The operator has announced that it will establish three experimental TD-LTE (time division-long term evolution) networks separately in three coastal cities – Qingdao, Xiamen and Zhuhai – beginning the third quarter of 2010, according to the China-based China Business News and it will migrate its TD-SCDMA based network to TD-LTE as their next evolution.

Second,

Clearwire paved the way for LTE in US when they submitted a proposal to adopt the 2496MHz-to-2690MHz frequency band in the US for TD-LTE, and it was accepted at a 3GPP meeting earlier this month. The acceptance is significant because it will enable Clearwire and other spectrum holders to deploy TD-LTE, which is the time division duplex (TDD) version of LTE, in the US. Clearwire was not alone in asking for the 2.6GHz spectrum to be defined as a TDD band for LTE. Indeed, there was broad industry support for the proposal from other companies, including: Sprint Nextel Corp. , NII Holdings Inc. , China Mobile Communications Corp. , UK Broadband Ltd. , Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , TD Tech Ltd. , WiChorus Inc. , ZTE Corp. , Chinese Academy of Telecommunications Technology , Nokia Siemens Networks , Cisco Systems Inc., Sequans Communications , Alcatel-Lucent , Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co. Ltd. , and Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG .

Third,

Japanese cell-co Softbank Mobile is considering deployment of TD-LTE standard as a 4G network. Senior executive vice president Ted Matsumoto told telecomasia.net that the company could deploy it in the 2.5GHz spectrum it had gained access to ,when it bought a stake in failing PHS operator Willcom last month. But he said Willcom’s next-gen PHS technology, XGP, and mobile Wimax were also under consideration.

Fourth, As Qualcomm prepares to bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum in India with the intention to deploy TD-LTE, the world’s largest infrastructure supplier, Ericsson has begun making the case as to why LTE in the band makes more sense than WiMAX for BWA operators in India.

Fifth, the Taiwanese operator Far EasTone said it will jointly develop a next generation TD-LTE mobile network in Taiwan for testing purposes with China Mobile.

Sixth, suppliers are getting ready to demonstrate their readiness to support TD-LTE based deployments. Motorola demonstrated end to end readiness to support LTE TDD with USB dongle devices in Shangai Expo. In a parallel move, Nokia Siemens Networks has inaugurated a TD-LTE Open Lab at its Hangzhou R&D facility and are trailing their base stations with China Mobile. Huawei will deploy TD-LTE demo network along with Motorola in China. Ericson, Alcatel lucent, ZTE and Samsung are developing LTE-TD based systems for commercial deployments.

Seventh, Qualcomm, Altair, Sequans, Innofidei, Wavesat has indicated availability of TD-LTE chipsets in 2.3/2.5 GHz. Others like Beceem , Runcom are also developing chipsets and release dates are not committed/known. Possibly QUALCOMM would the first to release LTE-TD samples. QUALCOMM is will put together available TD-LTE engineering samples ( MDM 9600) most likely in 2Q 2010. Commercial availability of chipsets is planned one quarter later. Other chipset supplier will have commercial readiness by Q4 2010. Assuming 2 quarters for ODMs for finished products, it is reasonable to assume availability of LTE-TD devices in Q2 -2011.

Finally

It looks like the time to market advantage for WiMAX is still not over as we see Q1/Q2 2011 as the most optimistic initial deployment timelines of TD-LTE system and initial device would never compete the current prices of WiMAX , however the ecosystem behind LTE can drive significant volume and has the ability to quickly create a competitive ecosystem of device supplier and operators.

Suggested Reading:

1)WiMAX and LTE Performance

2) WiMAX or TDD LTE in India?

I got a request to present difference between WiMAX and 3G. Please find couple of slides which will give perspective of 3G vs WiMAX .If you have particular question, do email me at admin@beyond4g.org .

Thanks,BP

More LTE Videos at 4GVideo.net

3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced, is a comprehensive resource intended to assist members of the wireless industry as well as interested members of the general public in understanding details of the work in 3GPP on Release 9 and Release 10. In addition, the report further describes the features of Release 8 that were closed in March 2009.

Release 9, which is targeted for completion by March 2010, will provide increased feature functionality and performance enhancements to both HSPA and LTE. The report reviews additional multi-carrier and MIMO options for HSPA and features and enhancements to support emergency services, location services and broadcast services for LTE. Other Release 9 enhancements include those to support Home NodeB/eNodeB (i.e. femtocells), Self-Organizing/Self-Optimizing Networks (SON) and the evolution of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture.
While work for Release 9 is nearing completion, significant progress has already been made in 3GPP on work for Release 10, which includes LTE-Advanced. In fact, 3GPP already submitted a proposal in October 2009 based on LTE-Advanced for the IMT-Advanced evaluation and certification process led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU has defined requirements that will officially define and certify technologies as IMT-Advanced, or 4G, and is expected to evaluate submitted proposals by standards organizations for potential certification in the 2010 timeframe; certified 4G/IMT-Advanced technology specifications are projected to be published by early 2011.

As part of Release 10, some of the key LTE-Advanced technology enhancements include carrier aggregation, multi-antenna enhancements and relays. Assuming LTE-Advanced is certified to be IMT-Advanced compliant, 3GPP targets completion of the Release 10 specification by year-end 2010.
“The white paper by 3G Americas provides an excellent overview of the work by 3GPP in determining the standards on the path to 4G,” Scrase said.

The popular white paper, 3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced, was written collaboratively by members of 3G Americas and is available for free downloadon the 3G Americas website at www.3gamericas.org.

Earlier I have reported that in Japan DoCoMo and softbank will use 1.5 GHz and KDDI will use 1.5 GHz + 800 MHz and eMobile will use 1.7 GHz for their LTE Deployments. NTT DoCoMo plans commercial LTE launch in December 2010. The initial focus is targeted at PC usage and will be extended to dual-mode 3G/LTE handsets in 2011. By 2014 NTT DoCoMo plans to provide LTE service to 50% of the population from around 20,000 base stations at a cost of between ¥300bn and ¥400bn ($3.2bn to $4.2bn). eMobile has indicated September 2010 LTE launch.

LG electronics is in the race to lead the mobile devices front of LTE .The company also plans to demonstrate a “handover technology” that allows operators to link LTE networks with their existing CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, it said. In bid to gain bigger amount of share in Verizon’s network the supplier has already secured US FCC approval in two models.

In a similar move to gain biggest share in Japanese market ( especially DoCoMo) the Korean supplier has announced that its LD100 data modem has become the first LTE device to receive Telecom Engineering Center (TELEC) certification, clearing the way for the modem to be used in Japan.

During CES, 2010 LG also announced successful live handover between LTE and EV-DO carriers with Alcatel Lucent. LG also achieved major benchmark by completing successful interoperability with Nokia Siemens Networks to achieve downlink data transfer rate of 100 Mbps, the maximum speed for a Class 3 LTE terminal.

The other Korean giant SAMSUNG who has more than 20% of worldwide market share in mobile phones is also aggressively pushing their LTE strategies. The Korean giant has completed live trials in Teliasonera and secured a contract with TeliaSonera to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices. Devices will be commercially available in Sweden and Norway markets. The Samsung LTE device (Model name: GT-B3710) is expected to be the world’s first LTE device. This device is a USB stick that can be connected to a laptop computer, or other portable devices. The USB stick incorporates Samsung’s in-house developed LTE modem chip, branded Kalmia, and supports 2.6GHz band for LTE service.

To support Japanese(DoCoMo) deployment , In October 2009, NEC, NTT DOCOMO, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. and Fujitsu Limited announced the completion of joint development of an LTE-PF chipset engineering sample. Performance assessment results and development updates on these technologies will be on display at MWC.

We have yet to here from Chinese supplier especially Huawei and ZTE.

3GPPs evaluation results for different MIMO configurations shows that a release 8 based systems will achieve 17 mbps working in 2×2 MiMO mode in downlink (Average Data Rate) at a full. In the similar amount of spectrum a 4×2 MIMO systems would achieve 19 mbps in downlink. This is two to three times the performance of earlier 3G releases.

The other significant piece which was reported from Teliasonera commercial network was Latency. Latencies in the range of 20ms were reported which is a huge improvement over earlier releases of 3GPP. The low latency in network will allow operators to provide higher QoS and support demanding applications. This might be the trigger we are waiting for enterprise services over LTE.

Thanks,BP
www.beyond4g.org

The 4G wireless ecosystem of today represents an increasingly broader spectrum of innovation and intellectual assets than its 3G predecessor. Innovation drives the 4G wireless industry but it also presents some very unique challenges when it comes to defining the intellectual assets involved and eventually managing the licensing of patents associated with them.

Jean-Michel Bourdon, President, Via Licensing, explained to 4G Trends that the industry learned much from the experiences of the development of 3G. “The time and cost incurred in facilitating licensee and licensor transactions was significant.” Bourdon cited the large number of patents and the international coordination required as being impediments to the development. In a 4G world intellectual assets can now encompass much more than just those associated with devices and infrastructure. Assets in the form of operating systems and applications – on device or in the network core – are even more prevalent.

4G wireless technology arguably starts out with at least 3 underlying standards – WiMAX, LTE and 802.11n WiFi. You might also consider that there are other wireless technologies that can be adjuncts – like NFC, RFID, etc. Critical in the evolution of 4G solutions is expedient and cost-effective access to intellectual assets of others that can be combined to create something even more compelling for the ecosystem. Ultimate creativity for innovation and solution development comes from ready access to these assets. Without it, development is slowed and opportunities missed or avoided.

Recognizing the challenges and obstacles associated with the complexities of managing these assets the IEEE and Open Patent Alliance have formed a unique industry collaboration with Via Licensing. For IEEE the relationship with Via Licensing represents an opportunity to shorten the time between the setting of industry standards and the licensing of same. Formed in 2008, the OPA’s objective is to foster a global ecosystem focused on delivering broader choice, competitive equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications. There are currently 11 members of the OPA who will, through the relationship with Via Licensing, take advantage of an administered pool of WiMAX technology patents. What the collaboration means for participants is relatively simple but extremely valuable. The collaboration provide a single relationship, a simplified license transaction and single royalty reporting destination.

But this is just a start, a good one but certainly one that will need to continue to grow. Extending an open patent collaboration further into the 4G wireless ecosystem just makes sense. Aside from the benefits of reduced time and cost, this type of collaboration has the potential to drive a further commitment to and adoption of standards. It also removes a level of “noise” and perhaps reluctance or hesitation, allowing the ecosystem to focus on the objective of making 4G wireless and the mobile Internet truly pervasive and Anywhere.

download presentation: http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/21/05/T21050000010003PDFE.pdf

Read full article from 3g4g blog

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Verizon Wireless likely will introduce a usage-based pricing model when it launches its LTE network in commercial markets later this year, a Verizon executive said, lending credence to the idea that wireless carriers will increasingly adopt the model in the future.

The pricing paradigm likely will shift because there will be so many devices that run on the LTE network that customers will not buy in Verizon’s stores, Verizon Communications CTO Dick Lynch said. Instead, the company will probably introduce a pricing scheme in which customers will be charged a base rate for using the network on LTE-connected devices–including tablets and appliances–but will then charge customers based on how much bandwidth they use.

“The problem we have today with flat-based usage is that you are trying to encourage customers to be efficient in use and applications, but you are getting some people who are bandwidth hogs using gigabytes a month and they are paying something like megabytes a month,” Lynch said in an interview with the Washington Post. “That isn’t long-term sustainable. Why should customers using an average amount of bandwidth be subsidizing bandwidth hogs?”

The company plans on launching 25-30 commercial LTE markets this year, covering a total of 100 million POPs. It has not detailed any pricing plans for the network, but has said that network will provide average data speeds of 5-12 Mbps for downloads and 2-5 Mbps for uploads.

Lynch’s comments are not entirely surprising. He made similar remarks at a broadband trade show in September, where he argued that metered broadband was going to eventually become a reality.

AT&T Mobility has said it will introduce incentives to get its customers to use wireless broadband more efficiently, though it has not said it will introduce usage-based pricing. Analysts have been speculating that more and more wireless operators will eventually go that route as data traffic keeps growing.

“If you look at what’s happening today, they’re being forced by necessity to adopt usage-based models,” Phil Asmundson, Deloitte’s vice chairman and leader of its U.S. technology, media and telecommunications group, told Telephony. “All-you-can-eat business models depend on your ability to predict how much data your customers will consume. The iPhone has proven that you can’t make those kind of predictions.”

Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-envisions-usage-based-model-lte/2010-01-08#ixzz0cDXmyDUQ

The Motorola prototype runs Google’s Android platform, has a 7-inch screen, room for 32 GB of internal memory, an Nvidia chipset, and, most importantly, a modem from Motorola. ”I can anticipate it being a $300 device but we have to go through the pricing process,” Don Schoch, Motorola’s director of program management, told Reuters. Verizon plans to deploy 25-30 commercial LTE markets–covering 100 million POPs, this year, but its specific buildout schedule has not yet been made public.

The Motorola tablet was not the only LTE device on hand at the show. Indeed, Samsung too was demonstrating prototype LTE devices at the event, including a media player, digital picture frame and camera. The company highlighted the possibilities of LTE by showing how an LTE-equipped video camera could stream live video over a demo LTE network to the company’s LTE-capable media player. A Samsung executive said all the devices could be released commercially for Verizon’s LTE network when it launches, but when pressed declined to confirm whether Samsung would in fact sell the devices.

Interestingly, Motorola’s tablet was just one of many such slab devices, evidence of a growing trend among manufacturers to push that particular form factor. Dell demonstrated a small slate computer with a 5-inch screen running Android, but declined to provide any pricing details or confirmation that it would be commercially released. Additionally, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer displayed a small touchscreen tablet made HP earlier this week. All of this comes ahead of a widely expected–but still unannounced–Apple tablet, which may sport wide area wireless connectivity.

Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/ceslive/story/motorola-demos-lte-tablet-market-heats/2010-01-08#ixzz0cDWet7V7

GCF, the Global Certification Forum, says that it is on schedule to release an LTE device certification scheme before the end of 2010 – in time for a wave of commercial LTE network launches expected towards the end of the year. GCF’s unified scheme will embrace both FDD and TDD versions of LTE.

Bringing sophisticated new technologies such as LTE within the scope of GCF Certification is a massive undertaking involving the selection, prioritisation and validation of more than 280 conformance tests in the first instance. In addition a comprehensive field trial regime is being developed. The test industry plays a vital role through the timely investment in the required new test platforms and test facilities.

To meet the needs of the US, Japanese and European markets, LTE Certification will initially encompass the FDD frequency bands at 700 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2500 MHz respectively. For TDD, certification is currently being developed for the 2300-2400 MHz and 2570-2620 MHz bands that have been allocated for LTE in China. GCF is structuring LTE certification so that, as the need arises, it can be extended quickly and efficiently to other frequency bands.

The development of conformance testing has been divided into three distinct areas: RF; the E-UTRA protocol; and the Evolved Packet Core protocol. A total of six teams have been established to develop the conformance criteria for each of the three areas across the FDD and TDD variants.

The prioritisation and definition of conformance testing are now virtually complete for both FDD and TDD and the validation of agreed conformance tests is beginning to gather momentum†. GCF is working very closely with RAN5, the 3GPP group responsible for developing mobile device conformance test standards, to ensure that the scheme remains aligned with the very latest developments in 3GPP.

The development of LTE certification enjoys the active support of GCF members from around the world. Operators from Japan and China are providing overall leadership for the conformance testing efforts for FDD and TDD respectively while six leading manufacturers have stepped forward to lead the work items that make up each of the FDD and TDD strands of the project.

Requirements for field trials – a unique feature of GCF Certification – are being prioritised into two phases by GCF’s Field Trial Agreement Group (FTAG). With a target completion date of June 2010, phase 1 requirements will include between 80 and 90 new field test scenarios consistent with the functionality anticipated in the first commercial LTE devices. Around 40% of the test cases have already been written.

Several major operators, manufacturers, test companies and the GSMA Devices Group are working together on the development of LTE field trial procedures.

“Certification will play a critical role in the long-term commercial success of LTE,” said Adriana Nugter, GCF Operations Manager. “GCF has been formally working on LTE Certification since March 2008 and by focusing the efforts of experts from across the operator, manufacturer and test communities, we are confident that certification will be in place in time for a wave of operator launches anticipated towards the end of the year.”

Posted to the site on 10th January 2010

October 27, Innsbruck Austria] Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, today announced that it has successfully completed the world’ s first test for LTE self-organizing network (SON) with T-Mobile in Innsbruck, Austria. Through the solution’ s ability to configure, optimize and recover automatically, the LTE SON will offer operators operational cost savings associated with network planning, network deployment and network optimization.

Using T-Mobile’ s existing eNodeBs, the test aims at verifying the functionality of Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) in Huawei’ s SON solution. The test result shows high successful handover rate and demonstrates that the SON solution is able to automatically establish and optimize the neighbour relations, and satisfies the requirement of future LTE commercial networks. As network topology changes, the LTE SON solution will ensure a high level of network connectivity and optimization of network-wide performance

Read full article…

Omnitele sees LTE to have great potential as it outperforms the current baseline HSDPA in terms of data rates by a factor of ten and HSPA+ technologies by a factor of 3-4.

1. Mobile broadband in the next big global phenomena

2. IP and LTE technologies enables convergence

3. Ericsson is committed to drive ecosystem globally towards 50B Connections in 2020

Download presentation here…

Thanks,BP

Chinese equipment vendor Huawei was making lots of noise on Friday, after it was awarded the contract to build an LTE network in Sweden, beating local rival Ericsson.

Huawei will deploy kit for Net4Mobility, the joint venture owned by Tele2 and Telenor, through 2010.

The goal is that 99 per cent of the Swedish population will be able to access the new network before the end of 2013, starting with densely populated areas. The deployment also includes a provision to increase the number of 2G base stations for voice traffic in by 30-50 per cent, with enhanced indoor- and outdoor coverage across the country as a result.

In related news, Huawei’s been boasting that its test network in Oslo, for TeliaSonera, reached speeds of 96Mbps, compared to an Ericsson run network in Stockholm that recorded speeds of only 43-44Mbps. But the company even says that in Oslo, it had twice the spectrum (20MHz) available to it, when compared to Ericsson in Sweden (10MHz), explaining away the discrepancy and taking the bit out of its boast.

Additional information about the deal from CIOL

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TOKYO, JAPAN, December 17, 2009 — NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today that in preparation for the start of extra-high-speed LTE mobile service, it is deploying new W-CDMA base stations equipped with newly developed remote radio equipment (RRE) units to provide both existing W-CDMA and forthcoming LTE service.

The RRE-equipped base stations will account for about half of the initial LTE base stations when DOCOMO becomes one of world’s first operators to launch an LTE service in December 2010.

The deployment is a part of DOCOMO’s initial plan to layer a 2GHz LTE network over its existing 3G network to provide dual W-CDMA/LTE service, which will combine the benefits of LTE’s high transmission speeds with 3G’s wide-area coverage as the LTE network is expanded gradually.

The new RRE (also known as remote radio head) allows the relatively easy and efficient installation of LTE base stations to existing W-CDMA base stations (see diagrams below). Compared to existing equipment, it also helps to lower operational costs thanks to its reduced weight, size and energy consumption.

The RRE-equipped base station comprises a master unit for signal processing and maintenance functions and the RRE for modulating and demodulating both W-CDMA and LTE signals transmitted and received via antenna. The two are linked by optical fiber.

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China’s ZTE says that it has successfully demonstrated its TD-LTE network technology and achieved a downlink speed of 130Mbps, the highest level in the industry. ZTE is the first company to reach the theoretical limit of TD-LTE throughput in downlink.

Read full Article..

Nokia Siemens Networks has carried out the world’s first voice calls in LTE networks using commercial, 3GPP-standardized user and network equipment. The success of the voice calls and SMS texting demonstrate the viability of the One Voice approach to voice over LTE (VoLTE).

Full Article…