LTE watch

LTE Tutorials at IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) 2014

2014-06-28T23:41:00.002+01:00

When: Sep. 2-5, 2014
Where: Washington DC, USA

http://www.ieee-pimrc.org/tutorials.html

LTE Tutorials at IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2014-Spring)

2014-03-13T15:29:00.003+00:00

When: May 18, 2014
Where: Seoul, South Korea

http://www.ieeevtc.org/vtc2014spring/tutorials.php

LTE Tutorial at IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (WCNC) 2013 in Shanghai, April 7

2013-01-19T01:49:00.001+00:00

I will be presenting LTE tutorial at this year's IEEE WCNC in Shanghai on April 7. More details at:

http://www.ieee-wcnc.org/2013/tutorials.html

GSA: Spectrum used in commercially launched LTE FDD networks

2013-01-19T00:01:00.003+00:00

Informa: LTE Launch Strategies – what's working and what isn't

2012-12-05T19:46:00.003+00:00

Webinar recorded on Nov. 29, 2012.

Technical papers on LTE-Advanced Release 11 on IEEE Communications Magazine (Nov. 2012)

2012-11-24T22:27:00.001+00:00

Technical papers on LTE-Advanced Release 11 are in this month's IEEE Communications Magazine (Nov. '12). The list of the papers are as follows:

Machine type communications in 3GPP systems
Minimization of drive tests in 3GPP release 11
Coordinated multipoint transmission and reception in LTE-advanced systems
Dynamic uplink-downlink configuration and interference management in TD-LTE
Interference avoidance for in-device coexistence in 3GPP LTE-advanced: challenges and solutions
Evolved multimedia broadcast/multicast service (eMBMS) in LTE-advanced: overview and Rel-11 enhancements

Complimentary LTE-A tutorial from IEEE Communications Society - Towards 4G: Technical Overview of LTE and LTE-Advanced

2012-11-19T18:21:00.000+00:00

This is a tutorial that I presented at IEEE GLOBECOM 2011 in Houston, USA. Enjoy!

LTE watch Weekly Summary [11/14~11/20, 2011]

2011-11-21T19:01:00.000+00:00

Market

Qualcomm Pursues 4G Push-To-Talk
Source: Light Reading
Qualcomm Inc. is working toward offering push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities over 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) but expects it to be several years before the walkie-talkie style functionality becomes commercially available.

Backhaulin' LTE in London
Source: Light Reading
There's an interesting wireless backhaul story in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) trial announcement from Telefónica UK Ltd. 's O2. For the first time, O2 is throwing a point-to-multipoint system into the wireless backhaul mix for its nine-month LTE trial in London. Point-to-multipoint is not a typical wireless backhaul technology choice as operators usually use point-to-point systems in developed markets, and it's one of the several alternatives being talked about recently for LTE and small cell mobile networks.

SK Tel says to deploy LTE networks nationwide by April 2012
Source: Reuters
SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile carrier, said that it planned to deploy Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks nationwide by April next year, eight months ahead of schedule, hoping that adoption of the faster service will boost sales.

LightPointe ushers in next wave of advanced 80 GHz e-band point-to-point Ethernet bridge solutions
Source: LightPointe press release
LightPointe announced the availability of new 70/80 GHz 4G/LTE backhaul solutions.

Qualcomm Announces Commercial Availability of Gobi 4000 Platform for 4G LTE Connectivity
Source: Qualcomm press release
Qualcomm Incorporated announced availability of Gobi™ 4000, its latest addition to the Gobi family of embedded data connectivity platforms.

Xilinx Announces Key Connectivity IP Cores for Next Generation LTE and LTE-A Wireless Infrastructure Equipment
Source: Xilinx press release
Xilinx, Inc. announced the availability of three key connectivity IP cores that are vital for building programmable, flexible and cost effective 3G+/4G wireless base stations.

Cox to Stop Offering Wireless Service
Source: Wall Street Journal
Cox Communications Inc., one of the country's largest cable companies, said it is ending its foray into offering wireless phone service, forcing customers from San Diego to Rhode Island to switch to another carrier.

Testing

GCF Activates Certification for Dual-Mode LTE/3G Devices
Source: GCF press release
GCF Certification is now able to provide assurance that dual-mode LTE/3G (UMTS/WCDMA) devices can hand-off sessions between the two radio-access technologies (RAT) in ways that conform to the relevant 3GPP standards.

Trial

Mindspeed Demonstrates Small Cell Development Solution for LTE Networks
Source: Mindspeed press release
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. announced a demonstrable prototyping solution that enables base station designers to efficiently productize future small cell designs based on Mindspeed®’s award-winning Transcede® family of wireless baseband processors.

Analysis

Clearwire gets a boost from China Mobile's TD-LTE progress
Source: Fierce Wireless
China Mobile said it hopes to complete the next phase of its TD-LTE network trials by June and is pushing to get device makers, including Apple, on board with the network technology. China Mobile's progress is a boost to Clearwire, which announced in September that it will collaborate with China Mobile to speed up the development of TD-LTE devices.

LTE TDD: Asia's Hot Tech
Source: Light Reading
Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex (LTE TDD) is all set to be a globally deployed next-generation mobile technology in years to come, but just now all the major action appears to happening in Asia/Pacific.

1800MHz spectrum key to global success of LTE services, GSA study shows
Source: GSA
A new report from GSA – the Global mobile Suppliers Association, demonstrates the strong appeal of using 1800 MHz spectrum for mobile broadband. It shows from practical, economic and business perspectives why 1800 MHz will emerge as a prime band for LTE deployments in virtually all regions of the world, and be important for international roaming.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [11/7~11/13, 2011]

2011-11-14T05:41:00.000+00:00

Editor's pick

Verizon’s successful LTE launch has changed the US competitive landscape
Source: Informa
The US will be the top LTE market globally by subscriptions through 2015, when it will be overtaken by China according to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media. By 2016, there will be 100 million LTE subscribers in the US compared to 613 million LTE subscribers worldwide.

Market

Taiwan to auction 4G spectrum in 2013
Source: Telecom Asia
Taiwan has cut two years from its 4G auction schedule, and now plans to commence the process by 2013.

MtronPTI Announces the Release of a New ISM Band 915MHz SAW Filter for 4G/LTE Wireless Infrastructure and SmartGrid Applications
Source: MtronPTI press release
MtronPTI has introduced the new ISM Band 915 MHz RoHS SAW Filter RoHS compliant SAW filter (“SF2620R”).

Powerwave and Mindspeed Collaborate to Enable Advanced LTE Picocells for Heterogeneous Networks
Source: Powerwave press release
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. and Powerwave Technologies, Inc. announced their collaboration to deliver advanced long-term evolution (LTE) small cell solutions to public safety, military and 4G mobile broadband markets.

Verizon's Shammo: LTE promotion frees EV-DO space for iPhone
Source: Fierce Wireless
Verizon Wireless launched a promotion doubling the amount of data its LTE smartphone customers get because it makes sense for the company financially and allows Verizon to get more subscribers off its EV-DO network and onto LTE, according to Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo.

Testing

Mu Dynamics Announces First Test Solution for 4G LTE Networks That Uses Real Application Traffic
Source: Mu Dynamics press release
Mu Dynamics, Inc. announced the first and only testing solution capable of using real application traffic to quickly determine how mobile users and devices impact 4G LTE networks.

Aeroflex TM500 LTE Test Mobile Completes Support for 3GPP Release 9 with Addition of Multicast Video Streaming Function
Source: Public Safety Communications
Aeroflex Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aeroflex Holding Corp., announced that the TM500 LTE Test Mobile now supports enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) as defined in Release 9 of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard for Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Trial

Airvana Demonstrates End-to-End LTE Femtocell Solution
Source: Airvana press release
Airvana LLC announced the successful demonstration of end-to-end LTE femtocell solution in partnership with Hitachi Communications Technology Americas.

MSF Publishes Voice over LTE Event White Paper Results
Source: BusinessWire
The MSF (MultiService Forum) announced the release of the White Paper for the first ever MSF VoLTE (Voice over Long Term Evolution) Interoperability Event.

Analysis

LTE Evolved Packet Core Spending to Cross Half a Billion Dollars in 2012
Source: ABI Research
Mobile operator spending for wireless core gateways will exceed $1 billion this year. The growing deployment of LTE networks is the main driver for increased spending on gateways, which in turn are driving Evolved Packet Core (EPC) spend. Wireless core gateway spend is expected to be $1.1 billion in 2012, of which LTE EPC spend will be $588 million.

4G Americas Report Explains the Benefits of Using Digital Dividend Spectrum for LTE
Source: 4G Americas
4G Americas announced the publication of a white paper, The Benefits of Using LTE in Digital Dividend Spectrum, which provides information on the key advantages of using the Digital Dividend TV spectrum for mobile broadband, particularly for LTE technology.

Can vendors differentiate on LTE and small cells? Analyst view
Source: Mobile Europe
Ken Rehbehn, principal analyst with Yankee Group's Network Research team, runs his eye over the main contenders. He also looks forward to how LTE networks are likely to be deployed, and at who may be first to come to market.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [10/31~11/6, 2011]

2011-11-07T02:39:00.000+00:00

Market

Ecrio and Pantech Join Forces to Launch IMS Smartphone on 4G/LTE Networks
Source: Ecrio press release
Ecrio and Pantech announced the release of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (“IMS”) compliant Pantech 4G/LTE Smartphone in North America.

DoCoMo targets 30m LTE subs by 2015
Source: Telecom Asia
Japan's NTT DoCoMo has laid out is expansion plans for the next few years, including reaching 30 million LTE subscribers by 2015.

India's two Reliance firms to share towers for 4G
Source: Rethink Wireless
One of India's most bitter corporate feuds, between the Ambani brothers who control the two Reliance companies, may be ending, as the firms look to share infrastructure.

Trial

SK Telecom trials LTE Smart Cloud Basestation
Source: Korea News Wire
Article in Korean.

Analysis

The 4G Dichotomy
Source: Light Reading
With the advent of much faster 3G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices that have capped data plans, it gets easier to blow through the 2GB or 5GB limit on your contract.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [10/24~10/30, 2011]

2011-10-31T05:32:00.002+00:00

Market

Motorola Solutions Brings First Commercial Release of Standards-based LTE Technology to Public Safety
Source: Motorola Solutions press release
Motorola Solutions, Inc. announced the commercial release of Motorola Public Safety LTE with shipments beginning on Nov. 11, 2011.

AT&T and Harris Corporation Form Alliance to Deliver Public Safety LTE Solutions
Source: Harris press release
AT&T and Harris Corporation are forming an alliance to develop and deliver next generation LTE wireless solutions for agencies and first responders whose lifesaving efforts depend on timely access to critical information.

ISCO Intl Introduces “Proteus® 4G” Spectrum Conditioning System for 4G / LTE Networks
Source: Business Wire
ISCO International introduced at the 4G World conference and exhibition in Chicago the 4G / LTE version of its Proteus® spectrum conditioning system.

D2 Technologies Partners with Altair Semiconductor to Create Ultra-Low Power 4G VoLTE Communications Solution
Source: D2 Technologies press release
D2 Technologies announced that it has partnered with one of the world’s leading suppliers of commercial semiconductor solutions for FDD/TDD LTE, Altair Semiconductor, to meet the demand for turnkey LTE solutions.

Verizon hints at Q4 nationwide launch of in-home LTE service
Source: FierceWireless
Verizon Communications appears to be gearing up to offer fixed, in-home LTE Internet service sometime in the fourth quarter as an alternative to satellite broadband service. The carrier's plans, disclosed during the company's quarterly conference call last week and highlighted by DSLReports, appear to be an expansion of a test Verizon ran in Erie, Pa., with DirecTV.

VelaTel Signs Agreement to Provide 4G Network in China
Source: VelaTel press release
US-based VelaTel Global Communications announced it has entered into a Business Agreement with New Generation Special Network Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (NGSN) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Sprint Plans LTE-Advanced Launch in 2013
Source: Light Reading
Sprint Nextel Corp. is cracking along with plans to speed up its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network even before the initial 4G service goes live in 2012.

AlcaLu Tackles Video Calling on LTE
Source: Light Reading
Alcatel-Lucent is aiming to help the wireless operators play a role in the growing market for two-way mobile video chat with a new communications platform for Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks.

Verizon to use small cells to supplement LTE
Source: FierceWireless
Verizon Wireless will deploy small cell technology to supplement its LTE coverage and help manage its network capacity.

Sprint Discloses Tentative Deal with Clearwire On LTE
Source: Forbes
Sprint said it has agreed to work closely with Clearwire on its planned LTE network roll out.

Testing

JDSU Introduces LTE Drive Test Smartphone App
Source: JDSU press release
JDSU today that its drive test solution now offers wireless carriers an LTE network analysis tool accessible through an Android™ smartphone.

WebNMS Launches KPI Dashboard and Reporting Engine for 4G/LTE
Source: Marketwire
WebNMS unveiled its KPI Dashboard and Reporting Engine for 4G / LTE device and network management.

Ixia Announces Ultra-High-Scale X800 Appliance for 3G and 4G/LTE Validation
Source: Ixia press release
Ixia announced the availability of its IxCatapult X800 appliance, used for ultra-high-scale capacity validation of 3G and 4G/LTE mobile networks.

Tektronix announce new software enhancements for LTE to its Access Monitoring solutions
Source: Tektronix press release
Tektronix Communications announced new software enhancements to its Access Monitoring solutions, which help Network Equipment Manufacturers (NEMs) and mobile network operators quickly transition to LTE by improving visibility and analysis of their mobile network.

Keynote SIGOS Launches End-To-End LTE Testing Solution
Source: Business Wire
Keynote SIGOS announced SIGOS Integrated Test EnvironmentTM (SITE) 2.5.

Trial

Huawei to Launch TV White Space LTE TDD System Trial
Source: Huawei press release
Huawei announced the successful launch of a TV White Space (TVWS) LTE TDD system trial.

NetAmerica Goes Live With 4G LTE Pilot Network
Source: NetAmerica Alliance press release
NetAmerica Alliance, LLC announced that it has deployed and has gone live with its 4G LTE pilot network, offering mobile broadband service in rural America.

Minerva Platform Powers Successful Delivery of Advanced Television Services over 4G LTE Network in Texas
Source: Minerva Networks press release
Minerva Networks announced that its new xTVFusion 5 for Broadband TV platform has been successfully deployed by MobiNet, (a new business division of Etex), which has successfully tested the delivery of television services over a 4G LTE network in northeastern Texas.

Analysis

LTE's Immaturity in the US
Source: Light Reading
Don't expect a consistent experience across fledgling Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks in the U.S., judging from the findings of a recent benchmark study by Signals Research Group.

1X Advanced, Rev. B or EV-DO Advanced: The CDMA network migration path is unclear
Source: FierceBroadbandWireless
The name of the game these days is growing network capacity by upgrading to faster data technology. HSPA+ has been successfully bumping up data speeds and giving W-CDMA-based mobile operators more capacity to work with--even as they deploy LTE networks. But for CDMA, moving beyond today's 1xEV-DO Rev. A networks isn't as clear cut.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [10/17~10/23, 2011]

2011-10-24T04:02:00.001+01:00

Editor's pick

The LTE signaling challenge
Source: Connected Planet
As 4G networks scale, carriers are finding one of the biggest challenges to keeping networks up and running is scaling the signaling and control plane. Overloads, as some operators have already found, can take a 4G network down in a snap – and it may get worse before it gets better.

Market

Verizon partially restores LTE network after nationwide outage
Source: telecoms.com
US carrier Verizon Wireless past weekend suffered an outage that affected its LTE network across the country. According to reports, the service went down early Sunday evening, and had only been partially restored across the country on Monday morning. Some users reported that 3G services were affected as well, leaving customers replying on 1xRTT for data access.

India to grant Internet licence to Qualcomm
Source: Reuters
India has agreed to grant an Internet service licence to Qualcomm Inc , Telecoms Secretary R. Chandrashekhar said on Tuesday, clearing the way for the U.S. chipmaker to launch broadband services in the country after its application for the licence was rejected initially.

Broadcom Delivers Industry's First SoC to Achieve 1.25Gbps for 4G/LTE Microwave Backhaul
Source: Broadcom press release
Broadcom Corporation announced its latest innovation for 4G/LTE microwave backhaul, the BCM85620 system-on-a-chip (SoC).

BTS and Radisys Demonstrate their next generation small cell 4G network in a box
Source: Radisys press release
BTS (TM) Corporation and Radisys® Corporation held a live demonstration of their interoperable products - CoreTx(TM) and Trillium® small cell software - at BTS Network Solutions' headquarters in Columbia, MD. The CoreTx solution and Trillium software deliver commercial grade 4G LTE technologies in harsh operating environments, enabling their customers to develop and rapidly deploy end-to-end 4G LTE cellular networks.

Sequans unveils next-generation FDD and TDD LTE chips and global LTE platforms
Source: Sequans press release
4G chipmaker Sequans Communications S.A. introduced three new FDD and TDD LTE baseband chips, a companion RF chip, and two new LTE platforms, supporting all global FDD and TDD LTE networks.

Sequans Enters Agreement with Fujitsu Semiconductor to combine Fujitsu’s RF solution and Sequans’ LTE baseband solutions
Source: Sequans press release
Sequans Communications S.A. has established a technology and marketing collaboration with Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited for the purpose of providing customers with a comprehensive, high-performance LTE product offering that combines Fujitsu Semiconductor’s multimode 2G/3G/LTE RF solution with Sequans’ just-announced, next generation LTE baseband solutions.

Analysis

Scaling Up Policy: Balancing Cost & Functionality in the LTE Era
Source: BroadHop
In the past two years, policy management caught fire as network operators sought better ways to manage the way bandwidth is allocated and congestion is handled. Now, many are looking to move on from these early deployments, and seeking to put policy at the heart of their traffic management and service development strategies.

Mobile VoIP subscribers will near 410 million by 2015; VoLTE still a long way off
Source: Infonetics Research
"The adoption of over-the-top (OTT) mobile VoIP services is growing rapidly but it is not without challenges. With free applications and extremely low revenue from users, it is tricky for application providers without the deep pockets of larger companies like Google, Microsoft, and Telefónica to have a sustainable long-term business model. Despite the fact that we expect mobile VoIP subscribers to grow nearly 10-fold from 2010 to 2015, there is relatively little money to be made from it in the near term," poses Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.

LTE changes the broadband game in South Korea
Source: Telecom Asia
In July South Korea's wireless industry entered a new phase of development when both SK Telecom and LG U+ launched LTE services, with Korea Telecom to follow in the fourth quarter. Overall the movement toward LTE is forcing operators to become more aggressive in the dongle space and should make the market more competitive as a whole.

80 Million LTE Connections Worldwide by 2013
Source: ABI Research
By the end of 2013, LTE connections will be close to 80 million. This figure will account for connections on both FD-LTE, including that paired with WCDMA/HSPA and CDMA 1x/EV-DO, and TD-LTE technologies globally. “We are expecting to see more LTE networks lighting up in the next year or two, but operators are now taking a quieter approach when it comes to deployment,” comments Fei Feng Seet, research analyst, wireless.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [10/10~10/16, 2011]

2011-10-17T04:11:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

LTE: Technology & Market (Interop NY 2011)
Presentation given at Interop New York 2011 (Oct. 7).

Market

BelAir Networks First to Deliver Small Metrocell for Easy Outdoor Deployments with Integrated LTE+WiFi+3G and Wireless Backhaul Option
Source: BelAir Networks press release
BelAir Networks announced the general availability of the industry's first compact LTE+3G+Wi-Fi Metrocell with integrated wireless backhaul for easy outdoor deployments.

US Blocks Huawei LTE Bid
Source: Light Reading
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. 's latest effort to bid for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network deal in the U.S. has been blocked by the U.S. government over national security concerns, The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday.

Analysis

Business and Technology Complications Keep 4G Smartphones to Just 25% of the Volume in Five Years
Source: ABI Research
Shipments of 4G smartphones are expected to grow from 4.6 million in 2010 to 245 million in 2016. LTE smartphone shipments will surpass WiMAX smartphones in 2011 and grow at a 72% CAGR over the forecast period. Senior mobile devices analyst, Michael Morgan, notes, “Nearly all of the world’s mobile operators, including the largest, are supporting LTE. It is an important driver for the LTE ecosystem that dwarfs any other drivers of 4G in general or of WiMAX and LTE, specifically.”

Trial

MSF Completes Latest Global Interop Test: 27 Companies Join Successful Voice Over LTE Event
Source: MSF press release
The MSF (MultiService Forum) announced the successful completion of the first ever MSF VoLTE (Voice over Long Term Evolution) Interoperability Event, backed by the GSMA. The event was conducted in two host sites in Dusseldorf, Germany and Beijing, China.

Tutorial

Webinar: TD-LTE - Game winning touch down in the UHF end zone?
Source: GSMA
As data consumption over mobile networks continues to grow, the need for more efficient use of limited spectrum resources is becoming more critical. The latest addition to the LTE family of technologies promises to go some way towards delivering these efficiencies. Unpaired spectrum can now be used to deliver a similar experience to that found through the more prevalently used paired spectrum bands. In addition, TD-LTE presents a unique opportunity to harmonise use of spectrum across geographical regions, with positive implications for the economies of scale so crucial to the mobile industry.

LTE: Technology & Market (Interop NY 2011)

2011-10-10T21:43:00.002+01:00

Intro:

Main presentation:

LTE: Technology & Market

LTE watch Weekly Summary [10/3~10/9, 2011]

2011-10-10T21:37:00.000+01:00

Market

Cavium Unveils OCTEON Fusion™ "Base Station-on-a-Chip" Family
Source: Cavium press release
Cavium, Inc. unveiled the OCTEON Fusion™ Family, the industry’s most powerful, small cell “Base Station-on-a-chip” family specifically designed for LTE & 3G small cell base stations, including picocell and micro base stations.

Sprint Accelerates Deployment of Network Vision and Announces National Rollout of 4G LTE
Source: Spring press release
At its 4G Strategy/Network Vision Update event in New York, Sprint Nextel updated the financial community on its plans to accelerate deployment of Network Vision and its plans to roll out 4G LTE on its licensed spectrum. Sprint will begin a rapid national rollout of LTE on its 1900MHz spectrum. Sprint plans to launch 4G LTE on its 1900MHz spectrum by midyear 2012 and complete the network build-out by the end of 2013. By the conclusion of 2013, Sprint’s 4G coverage footprint is expected to cover more than 250 million people.

Analysis

4G LTE Mobile Broadband Pricing and Marketing Today Targets Early Upgraders
Source: Strategy Analytics
With 75 percent of smartphone users attracted by faster speeds, leading mobile operators are working hard on their marketing and pricing to showcase their LTE services, particularly as they look to offer new LTE handsets. Strategy Analytics examines the range of LTE marketing messages and pricing approaches seen to date in its new Mobile Broadband Opportunities (MBO) service report, “Taking LTE to Market: LTE Marketing Messages and Pricing Approaches.”

LTE Component Makers Already Looking Toward LTE-Advanced, Heavy Reading Finds
Source: PR Newswire
A full ecosystem of silicon devices has been developed to support LTE, and component manufacturers are beginning to sample the first devices that support LTE-Advanced, a developing standard that will provide up to 3 Gbit/s downlink speeds, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading.

IPR

LTE Patent Pool: No Diving!
Source: Light Reading
Following Light Reading Mobile's report that some large equipment vendors are not very enthusiastic about proposals for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) patent pool, a leading industry analyst tells us there are many more reasons why companies won't dive in to such a pooling arrangement.

Trial

ZTE Completes Industry’s First Interoperability Test between FDD-LTE/TD-LTE and GSM/UMTS
Source: ZTE press release
ZTE Corporation announced it has successfully conducted an industry-first interoperability verification between FDD-LTE/TD-LTE and GSM/UMTS, which is based on the GSM/UMTS/FDD-LTE/TD-LTE multi-mode Uni-Ran platform.

Ericsson touts LTE-Advanced testbed results
Source: Mobile Business Briefing
Ericsson is testing LTE-Advanced technology in Sweden with speeds of up to 1Gb/s being attained, according to a senior executive from the world's largest mobile network infrastructure company.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [9/26~10/2, 2011]

2011-10-03T15:09:00.000+01:00

Market

Oberthur Technologies announces LTE CSIM card availability
Source: Oberthur Technologies press release
Oberthur Technologies announced the commercialisation of its multimode CSIM/ USIM cards for CDMA2000 and LTE networks. This card is able to handle authentication with current major network technologies such as: GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000 and of course LTE networks.

Etisalat brings LTE to UAE
Source: telecoms.com
Etisalat has announced the launch of its 4G LTE service in the UAE. The LTE-FDD mobile network will cover all major cities in the country in the first deployment phase, with Etisalat promising data download speeds of up to 100 Mbps for its customers.

Sprint to launch own 4G LTE network in early 2012
Source: CNET
Sprint Nextel will launch its own 4G LTE network early next year. The company is already installing LTE equipment and has been field testing the network in select areas, according to people familiar with the situation. It hopes to launch commercial service by the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter, although the target could move up. It's unclear how many markets would get the service initially.

Lantiq and Altair Semiconductor Collaborate to Bring Broadband Wireless LTE to Home Gateways
Source: Altair Semiconductor
Lantiq and Altair Semiconductor announced that Altair's LTE chipset will be used for the Lantiq XWAY™ GRX family of network processors, speeding development of LTE-ready home gateways.

Qualcomm wins reprieve in India spectrum tiff
Source: TelecomAsia.net
Qualcomm has won a breather in its scramble to secure the Indian 4G spectrum it paid $1 billion to acquire.

LTE networks light up in Saudi
Source: Wireless Intelligence
Saudi Arabia's three main operators have all launched commercial LTE networks in the last few weeks, with each claiming to be the first in the region to go live with the next-generation mobile technology.

Analysis

LTE 1800MHz Review in Asia-Pacific (presentation by StarHub)
Source: GSA

Fitch: French LTE auction will trigger network sharing opportunities
Source: FierceWireless
The first round of French LTE spectrum auctions has prompted Fitch Ratings to forecast that successful bidders will seek network sharing agreements with rival operators.

Picochip argues London LTE coverage needs 70,000 small cells
Source: FierceWireless
World-class LTE coverage in London calls for the installation of 70,000 small cells, including nearly 2,000 of these mini base stations to provide access to travellers in the UK capital's Underground network by 2015, according to silicon developer Picochip.

Russia's 4G plan may be splitting apart
Source: Rethink Wireless
MTS and Vimpelcom announce network sharing and fiber build-out deal, which seems to exclude their other LTE partners.

Motorola Designs Own LTE Chip for Droid Bionic
Source: ABI Research
Motorola started shipping its highly anticipated Droid Bionic less than a couple weeks ago. As part of its Teardown research service, ABI Research has dismantled, analyzed, and tested the device down to the component level. The conclusion? The second fastest application processor tested to date, a custom LTE chip designed by Motorola, the CDMA portion of the phone from Qualcomm, and some new RF components alongside a filter technology from a decade ago.

Tutorial

Inter-Cell Interference Coordination for LTE Advanced Heterogeneous Networks
Source: Nomor Research
This paper provides an overview over the background calling for ICIC in heterogeneous LTE-A networks. It outlines techniques standardized in Rel. 10 of LTE-A, discusses them showing their benefits and limitations by means of system-level simulations and motivates the importance of self optimizing network (SON) procedures for ICIC in LTE-A.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [9/19~25, 2011]

2011-09-26T06:19:00.000+01:00

Market

AT&T flips 4G LTE live
Source: Engadget

MetroPCS circles back to 3G data
Source: Rethink Wireless
MetroPCS hit the headlines for leaping straight from a 2G network to LTE without a 3G stepping stone, but now the US flat rate carrier is circling back to the EV-DO data upgrade for its CDMA network.

Analysis

AT&T vs. Verizon: LTE, Head-to-Head
Source: PCMag

AT&T LTE Test-Drive Results Revealed
Source: Light Reading
As AT&T Inc. officially launched Long Term Evolution (LTE) in five cities on Sunday, the first performance results of the newest U.S. LTE network have been revealed and the downloads are fast.

TD-LTE catching fire, but challenges remain
Source: FierceBroadbandWireless

IPR

Vendors Balk at LTE Patent Pool Proposal
Source: Light Reading
While operators are eager for the creation of a patent pool for Long Term Evolution (LTE), several of the industry's largest wireless vendors and intellectual property rights holders aren't so keen.

Identifying The Tech Leaders In LTE Wireless Patents
Source: Forbes

LTE watch Weekly Summary [9/12~18, 2011]

2011-09-18T19:45:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

Huawei Partners with Aero2 to Launch World's First LTE TDD/FDD Commercial Network
Source: Huawei press release
Huawei announced a new partnership with Aero2 to launch the world's first LTE TDD/FDD converged commercial telecommunications network.

Market

DoCoMo, others to make smartphone chips with Samsung: report
Source: Reuters
NTT DoCoMo Inc and other Japanese firms will partner South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co to develop key chips for next-generation smartphones to reduce the reliance on Qualcomm Inc, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Qualcomm may lose India TD-LTE spectrum
Source: Telecom Asia
Qualcomm faces having its application for a BWA spectrum license in India rejected, with the telecom ministry claiming the company was late submitting the paperwork.

China Mobile and Clearwire Announce Collaboration on TD-LTE Devices
Source: Clearwire press release
China Mobile and Clearwire Corporation announced a collaboration to accelerate the development of TD-LTE devices. Specifically, the two companies agreed to work together to cultivate a robust device ecosystem that supports multi-mode, multi-band devices with minimum component complexity and cost.

Analysis

Overview of the current global LTE climate
Source: GSA
Presentation given by Alan Hadden, President, GSA on the LTE Focus Day at Mobile Broadband World 2011, Berlin, Germany.

LTE Asia reveals market reality
Source: Informa blog
Mobile operators and vendors from Asia gathered in Singapore to discuss about LTE during Informa’s latest LTE Asia event. Although interest in LTE soared high throughout the conference, there were several interesting topics that stood out during discussions and conference presentations.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [8/29~9/11, 2011]

2011-09-11T21:48:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

Marvell Announces Industry's 1st Single-chip "World Modem" with Support for FDD/TDD-LTE, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA and EDGE
Source: Marvell press release
Marvell announced its latest breakthrough technology for global mobile communications, the Marvell® PXA1801 single-chip LTE world modem.

Market

Huawei Launches the World's First LTE TDD Wireless Broadband Router
Source: Huawei press release
Huawei has announced the commercial availability of the world's first LTE TDD wireless broadband router, the Huawei B593, through Saudi Arabian operator Mobily in October this year, in conjunction with the commercial availability of large-scale LTE TDD networks worldwide.

Samsung speeds up the Smarter Life with LTE versions of the GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9
Source: News Wire
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced LTE editions of its GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9.

Qualcomm Collaborates with Leading OEMs to Announce the Availability of Multi-mode LTE TDD Devices in India
Source: Qualcomm press release
Qualcomm Incorporated, in collaboration with Huawei, ZTE, Quanta and BandRich, announced the launch of LTE TDD multi-mode devices based on Qualcomm’s MDM9x00™ chipsets at Qualcomm’s signature event, IndiaOn 2011.

Kenya plans single wholesale LTE network
Source: Rethink Wireless
Building a single LTE network and supporting many mobile operators via wholesale agreements will be a common pattern in 4G. Kenya is the latest country to study this model, as an alternative to the usual competitive auction process.

Russia LTE plan hits another hurdle
Source: Rethink Wireless
Russia's plan to kick off its LTE era with a single network, run by Yota and shared by the big four carriers, was elegant in its simplicity - but perhaps it was too much to hope that the country would achieve 4G so smoothly, given its history of spectrum disputes and bureaucratic delays during 3G. The carriers are already arguing over plans to redistribute spectrum, and there are antitrust probes into whether the plan hurts smaller rivals. Now another hurdle faces the Yota plan - centering on the 4G start-up's valuation of itself at $1bn.

NEC collaborating with Cisco to Build Commercial LTE Networks for Service Providers
Source: Cisco press release
NEC Corporation collaborating with Cisco announced a strategic relationship in the construction and sale of commercial long-term evolution (LTE) networks for service providers. NEC and Cisco will jointly provide the end-to-end equipment for building LTE networks for service providers, including NEC's wireless network equipment (eNodeB), NEC's mobile backhaul solutions and Cisco's Mobile Internet network equipment ASR5000.

Picochip and ASTRI announce availability of first commercial-grade LTE small cell reference design
Source: Picochip press release
Picochip and Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) announced that they have successfully completed the design and validation of the PC8609, the industry’s first commercial-grade LTE FDD femtocell physical layer software.

Infrastructure

NGMN whitepapers on LTE Backhaul
Source: NGMN
- Guidelines for LTE Backhaul Traffic Estimation
- LTE Backhauling Deployment Scenarios

Ceragon Releases Compact, All-Outdoor Packet Solution for 4G/LTE Backhaul
Source: Ceragon press release
Ceragon Networks Ltd. announced the release of FibeAir® IP-10C- a compact, all-outdoor, high-capacity wireless packet backhaul solution - as the newest member of the widely deployed FibeAir IP-10 family.

NetLogic throws 80 cores at LTE infrastructure
Source: Rethink Wireless
One of the growing band of semiconductor companies chasing the souped-up 4G base station market is NetLogic Microsystems, which has unveiled a network processor with no fewer than 80 cores, targeting LTE infrastructure as well as enterprise networks and cloud storage applications.

Analysis

New Spectrum for the Americas Region is Vital
Source: 4G Americas
“Network capacity constraints for mobile service providers throughout the Americas, and particularly in the U.S., will soon affect their ability to offer more advanced services unless governments make more spectrum available,” said Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas.

GSA confirms acceleration of investments in LTE, and forecasts 93 commercial networks by 2012
Source: GSA
The GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) has published an update to its Evolution to LTE report, highlighting the growing investment in LTE. 237 operators have either launched commercial service, or are in trials, tests or studies.

IPR

NGMN Board Recommendation on LTE Patent Pool
Source: NGMN
The NGMN Board has followed the activities on creating patent pools on LTE with high interest since 2010 when NGMN conducted a Request for Information on LTE patent pool administrators. In its recent Board meeting in China, the Board reviewed the on-going activities to launch an LTE patent pool.

Tutorial

Mobile Broadband Explosion: 3GPP Broadband Evolution to IMT-Advanced
Source: 4G Americas
Rysavy’s report, Mobile Broadband Explosion: 3GPP Broadband Evolution to IMT-Advanced, discusses the evolution of EDGE, HSPA, LTE, the capabilities of these technologies and their position relative to other primary competing technologies. It explains how these technologies fit into the ITU roadmap that leads to IMT-Advanced.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [8/22~28, 2011]

2011-08-29T21:01:00.000+01:00

Testing

EB, Elektrobit, Releases Entry-Level MIMO OTA Testing Solution
Source: EB press release
EB, Elektrobit Corporation , announced its entry-level multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) Over-the-Air (OTA) LTE testing solution.

Market

Pulse Electronics Introduces Low Profile 700-LTE Switchable Antenna for Tablets
Source: Pulse Electronics press release
Pulse Electronics Corporation introduces the first 700-LTE (long term evolution), high-performance, low profile antenna for LTE-enabled tablets.

Dish Network Hopes to Build LTE Cellular Network
Source: PC World
Satellite TV provider Dish Network hopes to build a 4G cellular network, if the U.S. Federal Communications Commission permits it, according to a filing the satellite provider made on Monday.

Tutorial

Webinar: Experience Real World LTE Advanced HetNet Benefits (from Qualcomm)
Source: Fierce Live!
Slides can be downloaded from here.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [8/15~21, 2011]

2011-08-22T03:46:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

LTE survey shows 3/4 of operators deploy HSPA+ before LTE; no rush to offer voice over LTE
Source: Infonetics Research
LTE DEPLOYMENT STRATEGIES SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
- 74% of the operators surveyed are from the 3GPP camp and unanimously plan to take the W-CDMA to HSPA+ to LTE migration path
- The fact that 11% of respondents are deploying LTE as a greenfield network suggests that they are using LTE for a purpose other than a true mobile broadband upgrade, such as a DSL replacement
- Close to 2/3 of operators don’t know when they will trial LTE-Advanced (aka true 4G), although 5% are already testing the technology and 16% plan to trial LTE-Advanced in 2013
- Operators are not rushing to offer voice services over their LTE RAN, with 47% of respondents saying they plan to offer voice services 3 or more years after launching (way up from 17% in Infonetics’ 2010 LTE survey)
- Half of respondents believe it is very important to start construction of their LTE network with macrocells first, followed by a mix of small cells (microcell, picocells, femtocells) as an augmentation to optimize coverage

Market

Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE Network Available To More Than Half The U.S. Population
Source: Verizon Wireless press release

Trial

Altair Semiconductor Breaks TD-LTE Speed Record, Achieving More Than 100Mbps in Live Network Configuration Demo
Source: Altair Semiconductor press release
Altair Semiconductor announced that its TD-LTE chipset, integrated in a commercial USB dongle, achieved download speeds of more than 100Mbps in a live over-the-air demonstration.

LTE watch Weekly Summary [8/8~14, 2011]

2011-08-14T19:49:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

LTE takes hold in Asia Pacific
Source: TelecomAsia.net

Analysis

Samsung's Grand Plans for Euro LTE
Source: Light Reading
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. wants to be a player in the European LTE infrastructure market.

CTO explains Clearwire's unique flavor of LTE
Source: Connected Planet
Chief network designer John Saw defines 'LTE-Advanced-ready' and other elements of Clearwire's strange LTE deployment.

Market

Harris Corporation's BeOn First to Offer P25 Voice Over 3G Cellular and LTE Networks
Source: Harris press release
Harris Corporation announced that its BeOn™ has become the industry's first solution to enable public safety subscribers on a cellular or public safety LTE network to talk to each other, exchange text messages and pass real-time location information to connected team members and the dispatcher's computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) system.

Harris Corporation and Nokia Siemens Networks Join Nationwide Public Safety 700 MHz LTE Demonstration Network
Source: Harris press release
Harris Corporation announced that its complete public safety LTE solution is now operational within the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Demonstration Network.

Motorola Solutions Announces Two New Devices for Public Safety Agencies to Access Long Term Evolution (LTE) Networks
Source: Motorola Solutions press release
Motorola Solutions, Inc. introduced the VML700 LTE Vehicle Modem and the UM1000 LTE USB Modem.

Motorola Solutions Helps Law Enforcement Agencies Accelerate Public Safety LTE Adoption
Source: Motorola Solutions press release
Motorola Solutions, Inc. announced the LTE Cloud Core Service as an offering available within its suite of Public Safety Managed Services.

Following LTE watch Twitter updates through RSS reader

2011-08-08T20:18:00.001+01:00

This is a tip for RSS reader users. If you want to follow LTE watch's Twitter account, which is updated more frequently, you can add the following RSS feed to your RSS reader:

http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/61580822.rss

LTE watch Weekly Summary [8/1~7, 2011]

2011-08-08T19:41:00.000+01:00

Editor's pick

LTE spectrum fragmentation delaying LTE roll out report suggests
Source: telecoms.com
The fragmented nature of potential LTE spectrum across the world is slowing down operator decision making processes, a report claims. The LTE Spectrum Strategies and Forecasts to 2016 report from Informa Telecoms and Media, reveals that despite a near universal commitment to LTE as a standard, there is still widespread uncertainly over spectrum policy and availability worldwide.

Market

MetroPCS in aggressive LTE voice plan
Source: Rethink Wireless
Has migrated SMS to its all-IP system, and will start to move voice in Q112, accelerating CDMA switch-off.

Clearwire Announces Intent to Add LTE to Its Network to Accelerate Wholesale Business
Source: Clearwire press release
Clearwire Corporation announced its intent to add "LTE Advanced-ready" technology to its 4G network. The announcement follows the successful completion of 4G technology trials that achieved download speeds exceeding 120 Mbps and demonstrated the potential of Clearwire's unmatched spectrum advantage.

Spain awards LTE spectrum
Source: Mobile Business Briefing
Spain’s big three mobile operators – Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone – last week secured LTE spectrum in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands as part of an auction that raised EUR1.65 billion for the Spanish government.

Alvarion Looks Beyond WiMax
Source: Light Reading

Analysis

Lack of innovation in LTE pricing models, report finds
Source: Ovum
Operators that offer high-speed mobile broadband technology LTE are failing to deliver innovative pricing models, according to Ovum.

LTE May Kill the World Phone
Source: PC Magazine
New 4G LTE networks are being built on so many frequency bands that it will be very difficult to build true world phones, and LTE phones' battery life and signal quality will suffer, Informa Telecoms and Media research analyst Malik Saadi said after releasing a report this week.

Fitch: The Road to 4G, A Review of Plans for Key Operators
Source: cellular-news

LTE watch Weekly Summary [7/25~31, 2011]

2011-07-31T23:44:00.000+01:00

Market

Verizon Introduces LTE Notebook (HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr) and Tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1)
Source: Verizon Wireless press release

Sprint Nextel and LightSquared Announce Spectrum Hosting and Network Services Agreement
Source: Sprint press release
LightSquared™ and Sprint Nextel announced today they have entered into a 15-year agreement that includes spectrum hosting and network services, 4G wholesale, and 3G roaming.

Status of the LTE Ecosystem report- 161 LTE User Devices launched by 45 manufacturers
Source: GSA

Analysis

NSN loses out as Lightsquared confirms Sprint tie-up
Source: telecoms.com
US wholesale player Lightsquared has confirmed that it has entered into a partnership with Sprint Nextel that will see Sprint deploy an LTE network on Lightsquared’s behalf. The deal has put a serious dent in the US ambitions of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was named as Lightsquared’s network deployment partner last year.

Infrastructure

IPWireless Launches LTE Product Portfolio for Public Safety Network in 700MHz
Source: IPWireless press release

Trial

Softbank Mobile and Ericsson demonstrate new LTE feature to improve cell-edge data rate
Source: Ericsson press release
SOFTBANK MOBILE and Ericsson have successfully demonstrated the benefits of a new feature, cooperative transmission control/coordinated scheduling in LTE radio base stations (Coordinated Multi Point, or CoMP in LTE Release 11), which significantly improves cell-edge user performance.

Tutorial

Free IEEE technical papers on LTE courtesy of IEEE ComSoc