Catch-up post of LTE news

- Sprint Faces 4G Dilemma (8/31)
- LightSquared 4G buildout plans leak (8/31)
- Alcatel-Lucent makes world’s first call over LTE network operating within public safety broadband spectrum (9/2)
- DT Takes First Orders for LTE Service (9/6)
- Vodafone Germany reveals LTE pricing plans (9/6)
- CSL demos Dual Cell LTE/HSPA+ network (9/7)
- Ericsson and Motorola Solutions enter alliance to provide LTE solutions for Public Safety (9/7)
- Mobile Data Modem Vendors Are Already on the 4G Starting Line (9/7)
- India WiMAX operator has LTE plan B (9/7)
- Qualcomm now demonstrating products based on LTE TDD Technology (9/8)
- E.U. to Back Plan for Pan-European Mobile Market (9/12)
- 3G Americas Publishes Research Report "Transition to 4G: 3GPP Broadband Evolution to IMT-Advanced" (9/13)
- LGU+ (formerly LG Telecom) starts LTE vendor benchmark testing with Samsung, LG-Ericsson, Huawei, NSN, and Cisco (9/14)
- Will the FCC require all 700 MHz LTE equipment to interoperate? (9/16)
- AT&T to launch LTE by mid-2011 (9/16)
- Verizon to launch LTE in 30 “NFL cities” by end of 2010 (9/16)

Jumbo post: Notable LTE news/analysis in the past month or so

- Sonera to roll out Finland’s first 4G network in Turku (6/2)
- DOCOMO to Begin Pre-launch Operation of LTE Network (6/8)
- BWA Auction Is Bad News for WiMax's Future (6/11)
- Ericsson claims lead in essential patents for LTE (6/14)
- Does 4G Have a Role in M2M? (6/17)
- Telstra and Nokia Siemens Networks LTE world-first trial achieves 100Mbps at 75km using 2.6GHz (6/18)
- A step closer to 4G: Verizon moves to 'user trials' in LTE (6/18)
- US looks to harness 90MHz of mobile satellite spectrum (6/21)
- 3GPP LTE Seminar for Latin America Operators (6/21)
- DoCoMo Seeks LTE Femto Suppliers (6/22)
- Novatel Wireless Introduces Its LTE Embedded Modules Portfolio (6/28)
- Verizon to launch LTE network on November 15th, handsets on Black Friday (6/29)
- TeliaSonera gears up to ship first dual-mode LTE / 3G USB WWAN modem (6/30)
- LTE trials completed in 800MHz and 1.8GHz (7/2)
- Challengers Shake Up LTE Chips (7/5)
- LTE Trials Pick Up Speed as the World Prepares to Go 4G; ABI Research Reports (7/6)
- ST-Ericsson and Sagem aim for early LTE devices (7/8)
- Small Cells Key to LTE, Analyst Says (7/8)
- Ericsson: First complete TD-LTE solution showcased (7/12)
- Sprint’s 4G move opens way to merger (7/12)
- Alvarion Expands its 4G Offering to Include TD-LTE (7/13)
- SK Telecom Plans LTE Launch in 2011 (7/14)
- IP Wireless and Altair team-up on multi-mode LTE modems (7/14)
- LG VL600 hybrid LTE / CDMA modem for Verizon clears FCC hurdle (7/17)
- Verizon's 4G LTE SIM in the wild (7/19)
- LTE market facing confusion with 20 different spectrum bands (7/19)
- Spirent Enables Seamless Mobility of LTE Multi-Mode Devices (7/19)
- Harbinger forges $7B LTE pact with Nokia Siemens (7/20)
- Verizon's LTE network launching November 15 with two data cards and over 30 markets? (7/20)
- Counting Down to LTE (7/23)

Asian 4G developing rapidly but in fragmented pattern

Source: Rethink Wireless
The pattern of wireless deployments has always been far more varied and fragmented in Asia than in the more homogeneous Europe, and mobile broadband is no exception. As the Indian BWA auction rumbles on, with WiMAX and TD-LTE bidding for a place in the wireless picture, Thailand looks set to leapfrog 3G altogether, Korea is expanding the reach of WiMAX, and Indonesia aims to become a tier one country in terms of fast wireless.

KT prepares LTE, works on content boost

Source: Reuters
South Korea's No.1 fixed-line operator, KT Corp, will work with telecommunications gear makers including Samsung and LG-Ericsson for a high-speed LTE network, a senior executive told Reuters.

South Korea's KT and LG Telecom to deploy LTE on 800/900 MHz band

Source: ZD Net Korea
South Korea's KCC (Korea Communications Commission) is in the process of re-allocating the 800/900 MHz band for 4G deployment, and KT and LG Telecom were selected as the preferred mobile operators for this band ahead of SK Telecom which is the market leader in South Korea. Both KT and LG Telecom are planning to use LTE instead of WiBro, Korean version of Mobile WiMAX, in this band according to their submitted proposal.

Note that the original article is Korean. - Hyung

LG licenses Qualcomm for 4G technology

Source: Reuters
Qualcomm Inc said LG Electronics Co Ltd is one of three major phone makers that agreed to license its 4G high-speed wireless technology, solidifying its position in the mobile market for years.

"This means they have 65 percent of the handset market signed up to long-term royalty agreements," JP Morgan analyst Steven O'Brien said. "We have more certainty in the royalty streams and cash flow streams from the major handset vendors."

LG Telecom to complete nationwide 4G LTE network by 2013

Source: Digital Daily
LG Telecom announced that they plan to deploy a nationwide 4G LTE network by 2013, according to South Korean news source Digital Daily.

The news article is in Korean. - Hyung

All three South Korean mobile operators are now on LTE migration path

According to news sources in South Korea, LG Telecom (LGT) quietly revealed their intention to migrate to LTE for 4G service in South Korea. LG-Nortel and Samsung will provide the multi-mode base stations which are part of the company's green network upgrade. SKT and KTF (now part of KT), the other two mobile operators in the country, have already announced their LTE migration path for 4G previously. Unlike SKT and KTF who will migrate from HSPA to LTE, LGT will go from EV-DO to LTE, similar to the case of Verizon Wireless.

It was probably a matter of time for LGT to announce the LTE migration plan since it was only running EV-DO network, and this officially puts LGT on the LTE camp. Now, my speculation is that other major EV-DO operators (noticeably, Sprint) who haven't announced such plans will follow the same path down the road since WiMAX does not seem to be a viable migration path for the FDD part of the network.

See related articles (in Korean) from here and here.

- Hyung

LTE Mobile Broadband Ecosystem: the Global Opportunity by UMTS Forum

Source: 3GPP press release
The UMTS Forum have made their latest Report - LTE Mobile Broadband Ecosystem: the Global Opportunity available for free download.

The study is based on over 30 interviews by Ovum with operators, vendors, regulators and standards bodies, plus end user research with 550 respondents in the US, Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Spain. It considers both consumer and enterprise market segments, as well as vertical markets that will benefit from the deployment of LTE.

A fairly comprehensive up-to-date market study report provided by UMTS Forum. The report itself can be downloaded from here. - Hyung

WiBro Operators on Borrowed Time

Source: Light Reading
Senior government officials in South Korea say the country's mobile WiMax licenses should be revoked and other sanctions imposed since service providers have failed to invest enough in their WiBro networks, according to an ET News report.

TD-SCDMA/4G in China

June issue of Telecommunications Review (from SK Telecom) has technical articles on China's LTE TDD migration. Follow the link and click the "Recent Telecommunications Review" section, and you'll be able to download the articles.

The following are the list of papers (note that that some of the articles are written in Korean):

* TD- SCDMA 장점 비교분석, 주요현황 및 현실적인 발전 전략
* China FuTURE 4G TDD System: TD-SCDMA Evolution
* TD-SCDMA 진화 방향
* The Impact on RF Specification by Introducing TD-SCDMA Multi-carrier HSDPA
* IMT-A 시스템에서의 시분할 Duplex 무선 디지털 중계기 특유의 2가지 동작방식
* Radio Resource Management for TD-SCDMA and Evolved TDD: A Survey
* IMS의 서비스 제어 및 발전 추세
* 중국 All-Service 운영 환경에서의 FMC 서비스 발전

Confusion surrounds Ericsson's South Korea investment

Source: FierceWireless
Days after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's office issued a statement saying that Ericsson would invest $1.5 billion in the country over the next five years on LTE research and development, Ericsson and the president's office appear to be at odds over the specific financial details of the investment.

Ericsson invests $1.5B on LTE research in South Korea

Source: FierceWireless
Ericsson will spend $1.5 billion in South Korea over the next five years on LTE research and development. The announcement from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's office came after Lee met with Ericsson's incoming CEO Hans Vestberg in Sweden.

LG shows off the world’s first 4G (LTE) modem

Source: Unwired View


While we’re still waiting for a 4G / LTE network to be commercially launched anywhere in the world, LG has recently showcased the first-ever LTE USB modem.

Presented in Singapore, during CommunicAsia 2009, the new LG modem is capable of providing data transfers of up to 100 Mbps over a mobile network – thus being much faster than any 3G modem currently available.

A Dozen Operators Launching LTE Services in 2010

Source: ABI research press release
The tally of wireless operators committed to deploying LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks and offering LTE-based services to their subscribers in 2010 has climbed to at least 12, according to a major new study from ABI Research. By the following year nearly 34 million users worldwide are forecast to subscribe to the new ultra-fast data services, which promise speeds rivaling those available via cable or DSL.

“LTE – GSM Long Term Evolution” provides insight into a number of operators’ strategies, vendor solutions, frequency bands used and latest development in the IPR analysis. A list of all operators with defined LTE plans is also included, along with potential CAPEX spending and a variety of forecasts.

LG Electronics to supply modem chips to NTT DoCoMo

Source: TradingMarkets.com
LG Electronics Co., the world's fifth-largest handset maker, said Monday that it has become a modem chip supplier for Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc.

The company's long-term evolution (LTE) modem chips will be shipped to NTT DoCoMo for its next generation wireless service, starting next year, LG Electronics said, without disclosing details including the date of the shipment.

WiBro Gets Voice, but Who Cares?

Source: The Korea Times
Despite the massive pre-launch hype, WiBro (wireless broadband), South Korea's homemade portable Internet standard, looks as overrated as the Matrix sequels and New Year's resolutions.

Now, the country's high-tech policymakers, grasping for explanations, are desperate to give the muted technology a voice, literally.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Tuesday confirmed its plans to allow voice calls on WiBro-enabled devices and assign them phone numbers that start with the 010 prefix, which is used by all three of the country's mobile-phone carriers ― SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom.

Taiwan makers may roll out LTE-enabled handsets in 2011

Source: DigiTimes
Taiwan handset makers are expected to roll out LTE (Long Term Evolution)-enabled handsets in the first half of 2011 at the earliest, while Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics (LGE) may launch models supporting the 4G technology in 2010, according to sources from the Taiwan handset industry.

SK Telecom confirms migration to LTE

Source: inews24.com
During a press conference by the new CEO Man-Won Jung of SK Telecom, which is the largest mobile operator in South Korea, he confirmed that they are currently researching and evaluating LTE, and that he sees a commercial launch in 2013.

Another interesting comment by CEO Jung is that the company will pursue both LTE and WiBro which is the Korean version of the Mobile WiMAX but that they will not support voice service on WiBro. They view WiBro more as a complimentary service to their existing voice network providing high speed data connection in hot spot locations.

Note that the news article is in Korean.

- Hyung

Why Korea Isn't Rushing To 4G

Source: Forbes
Unlike the rest of the world, Korean operators are content with 3G and 3.5G services.

This article is one of the featured pieces in Forbe's "Korea: Window Into The Wireless Future" series. Many insightful articles on South Korea's wireless industry and market are featured. - Hyung