LG Electronics unveils LTE modem chipset

LG Electronics earlier this month unveiled modem chipsets for its fourth-generation mobile platform - Long Term Evolution or LTE - the first among mobile handset makers in South Korea.

Despite some lingering doubts, LTE has been gaining momentum, with mobile makers eager to lock in on operator commitments by marketing 3G gear that can be later upgraded to LTE.
[Read more]

Cantab Wireless forecasts 85 million LTE users by the end of 2013

Long Term Evolution (LTE), an upcoming standard for IP mobile telecommunications, will be launched in less than two years’ time in Japan and by 2013 it will have 85 million users worldwide. according to an analysis from Cantab Wireless. LTE system specifications are expected to be finalized in the first half of 2009.

LTE offers remarkable improvements over 3G systems as it focuses on IP data performance rather than circuit-switched voice connections. Test networks have reached data speeds approaching 200 Mbps. LTE achieves such performance figures by employing several techniques found in the competing protocol, mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005), including an OFDM–based air interface, MIMO antennas and channel bandwidths of up to 20 MHz.
[Read more]

ZTE to build LTE team

JLM Pacific Epoch reports that Chinese telecom equipment provider ZTE plans to build a research and development team for LTE and 4G projects with over 2,000 employees. The company has partnered with 4G researchers including those housed at Tsinghua University, Southeast University and Beijing Jiaotong University, said Hu Jian, chief of ZTE’s Communications Standard Department.

Source: JLM Pacific Epoch

Motorola demonstrates LTE over-the-air in 700 MHz spectrum

Motorola, Inc. announced it has completed the industry’s first over-the-air Long-Term Evolution (LTE) data sessions in the 700 MHz spectrum using its LTE Radio Access Test Network and LTE eNode-B platform with a prototype LTE device. This testing milestone, achieved in Motorola labs and at an outdoor location in central Illinois, demonstrates the progress Motorola is achieving toward bringing its LTE solutions to market in 2009.

The sessions included mobile video streaming and various high data rate applications. The demonstrations also included execution of applications priority which guarantees throughput using quality of service (QoS) aspects of the LTE standards.
[Read more]

Huawei predicts June 2009 for first commercial LTE infrastructure

Huawei said that they will provide LTE/SAE infrastructure to mobile operators based on multi-standard base stations and their first commercial LTE/SAE network is expected to be ready by June 2009.

“The rapid development and benefits of wireless technology has seen mobile broadband evolve from UMTS / HSPA / HSPA+ to LTE which offers more efficiency than other networks,” said Ihab Ghattas, Assistant President, Huawei Technologies Middle East during the SAMENA Telecommunications Council’s Convergence to Jordan 2008 conference this week. “Expectations are that by 2015 LTE subscriber base will reach 400-450 million generating revenues of almost EUR 150 billion.”
[Read more]

Multi-Mode WiMAX/LTE Chips to Hit Markets in 2009, finds ABI Research

2009 will see the introduction of a new class of wireless communications chip that features dual-mode support for both WiMAX and LTE, according to ABI Research. The thrust of demand for such chips comes from those wireless device makers seeking to reduce the number of their SKUs; they will welcome the economies of scale that come from creating devices that support both 4G standards.

“Some mobile operators are showing interest in dual-mode chipsets,” says ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, “and they are backing it with cash. Vodafone, for example, has a foot in both WiMAX and LTE camps. They will use LTE in industrialized regions, and WiMAX in developing nations. In Japan, KDDI may deploy LTE on its own, but as an investor (along with Intel and others) in WiMAX operator UQ Communications, KDDI has an interest in both standards.”
[Read more]

NTT DOCOMO Selects Fujitsu to Provide Nokia Siemens Networks’ Core Technology for its LTE Core Network

Fujitsu and Nokia Siemens Networks have agreed to cooperate on jointly developing the Service Architecture Evolution (SAE) Gateway, including the Serving Gateway and the PDN Gateway, for the Super 3G project’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) core. The selection of SAE Gateway vendors means NTT DOCOMO is well on track to be among the world’s first operators to introduce the groundbreaking LTE technology that promises a wireless online experience comparable to today’s fixed broadband.

LTE is a next-generation system for mobile networks that enables faster and smoother delivery of new multimedia and rich call applications. Nokia Siemens Networks offers a full end-to-end LTE networks solution, including radio, core, business support systems, network management and integration services.
[Read more]

CDG predicts CDMA2000 operators among first to deploy LTE and mobile WiMAX to complement 3G networks

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) today announced that CDMA operators will be among the first to complement their 3G networks with wider bandwidth OFDM-based technology solutions, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Mobile WiMAX, as the 3G CDMA2000 family of technologies continues its rapid growth. CDMA operators are well-positioned to build on the wireless data business models they have developed for CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, and their 3G voice, broadband and broadcast data services will serve as their core revenue generators as they deploy next-generation networks.

“3G is enabling new services that drive profitable wireless data business models, which will continue to be the foundation for operators even as OFDM-based technologies like LTE and Mobile WiMAX are deployed,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “Next-generation mobile broadband solutions will increase the value of existing 3G voice and data networks by interoperating with them to address distinct business needs.”
[Read more]

Bloomberg: NEC Says Sales to Carriers Will Rise 43% on Faster Gear Demand

By Pavel Alpeyev and Mikako Nakajima

NEC Corp., Japan’s largest personal-computer maker, forecast sales of equipment and software services to carriers will increase 43 percent in three years as telecommunications companies upgrade their networks.

Revenue in the business will rise to 1 trillion yen ($9.3 billion) in the year ending March 2011, from 700 billion last fiscal year, Nobuhiro Endo, NEC’s associate senior vice president in charge of the mobile-network operations unit, said in a Bloomberg Television interview broadcast today. The operations accounted for 15 percent of the company’s sales last fiscal year.
[Read more]

2.1 billion mobile broadband customers by 2015, says Analysys Mason

Wireless broadband services will create significant opportunities for revenue growth, and cellular technologies will take the largest share, according to a report from Analysys Mason.

Globally, 2.1 billion wireless broadband customers will generate USD784 billion in service revenue by 2015. This revenue increase of about 2400% will be underpinned by continued developments in wireless technologies, improvements in devices and more flexible pricing options.
[Read more]

Aircell Selects LTE as Next-Gen Protocol for Inflight Connectivity

Aircell announced its intention to base its next-generation mobile broadband network on Long Term Evolution (LTE). Having pioneered the first commercial Inflight Internet service in North America, Aircell plans to deploy LTE to enable the next generation ultra-high bandwidth mobile services such as high-definition and interactive TV and multi-player immersive gaming that passengers will come to expect. As Aircell migrates toward full LTE deployment, planned network and technology developments will enable Aircell to serve North American airlines with state-of-the-art mobile broadband technology.

Aircell’s LTE announcement expands on the company’s vision and leadership in the airborne communications market. With a 16-year history in airborne communications, Aircell’s continuing innovation and leadership were confirmed recently by the company’s demonstration of the first and only air-to-ground mobile broadband Inflight Internet solution for commercial airlines, Gogo. Gogo turns a commercial airplane into a Wi-Fi hotspot, providing full Internet access - including Web, personal IM and email accounts and VPN access to corporate email and systems - to passengers with Wi-Fi enabled personal devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs.
[Read more]

RadioFrame announces second generation processor for LTE and WiMAX femtocells

RadioFrame Networks (RFN) announced plans for its second generation OmniRadio processor to deliver low cost, high functionality femtocell products for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX networks.

RFN launched its OmniRadio processor for the femtocell market last year. The solution gives wireless carriers a distinct cost advantage and is the industry’s only combined 2G/3G femtocell being marketed today.
[Read more]

Nortel Publishes LTE Patent Royalty Rates

To help accelerate the global adoption of the 4G technology for high-speed, high-bandwidth mobile communications, Nortel has published a competitive handset royalty rate of about one percent subject to terms for its portfolio of LTE standards-essential patents. Nortel’s competitive handset royalty rate for patent value is one of the first to be voluntarily published. Nortel is providing this information in order to help service providers and their handset vendors develop business plans for launching LTE, a wireless technology that can support hotly demanded mobile applications like social networking, multi-player gaming, and streaming video.

With initial LTE deployments expected to occur as early as next year, operators are exploring the business case for investment in the 4G wireless technology to meet demand for higher-bandwidth mobile services. Nortel is taking this exceptional step of publishing its competitive patent royalty rates in order to provide increased transparency and predictability of IPR costs that could help prevent uncertainties in handset costs from inhibiting the growth of the 4G market. Removing an unknown of LTE IPR handset licensing costs is expected to help foster LTE business cases and reduce the risks of early deployment. Nortel will make licenses available and is providing royalty information to help simplify the current guesswork while ensuring that its innovation is rewarded.
[Read more]

LTE Unlikely to Offer Superfast Mobile Broadband to the Masses Until 2011

Although the first 3G LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks will come into operation in Japan in 2010, the technology is unlikely to see the light of day until 2011 in the rest of the world. Even then, subscriber numbers are forecast to be only 4.2 million with a large proportion using LTE via data cards on their laptops, according to a recently published report from London-based research and consulting firm, ARCchart. As in the case of WCDMA, the role of handset manufacturers will be crucial and it is not until 2012 and 2013 when LTE handsets really penetrate the market that LTE will see significant take up. Some operators will choose to delay rolling out LTE in preference for HSPA+ which will offer many of the benefits of LTE.

Many cellular operators are betting on LTE to provide their next-generation mobile broadband networks with download speeds of 100 Mbps. However, the key question remains, can operators who are only just starting to see returns from their 3G licenses really justify investing in what is essentially a new replacement technology? The ARCchart report, titled “The LTE Business Case: Operator and Vendor Strategies”, examines the technical and market dilemmas faced by operators and vendors in their migration to LTE, examining the LTE business case in the context of a converging communications world. The report looks at the risks associated with the upgrade to a totally new technology and the progress made by the principal vendors and standards bodies involved.
[Read more]

LTE to lead OFDM-based technologies by 2014, says Visant Strategies

The early favorite in 4G wireless is the long-term roadmap for UMTS, LTE, but other technologies are now gaining support, according to a new study by Visant Strategies.

“We see LTE as the leading OFDM-based platform in 2014, accounting for 39 million subscribers and $9 billion in equipment revenues, with the market accelerating the next three years after that as far as subscribers and infrastructure sales go,” said Andy Fuertes of Visant Strategies. “These next six years will lay the foundation for 4G with the market really growing in earnest during the years after that.”
[Read more]

Next Page »