Say Hello to LTE

It's cheaper. It's faster. It
offers more options. And, it requires less bandwith. Say hello to LTE. Known to
work on 4G network and currently in the trial stage for commercial large scale
deployment, LTE is being touted as the solution to spectrum and bandwith
scarcity, the later versions being able to work on as little as 5 Mhz and
harmonize with the rest of the world.

This is important for India, where all the spectrum the
government is willing to lease out as of now is 5 Mhz. However, while it was
previously debated whether India should leap-frog to 4G before 3G to keep up
with the rest of the world, it has now been established that in its current
form, LTE needs a continuous 10 Mhz bandwidth, besides, it is very
expensive--two factors that do not go down well with the spectrum-scarce and
price-sensitive Indian market.

Thus, even though the rest of the world is conducting 4G
auctions while we are yet to obtain 3G, it might be a worthwhile one to two year
wait, as telecom experts predict that later LTE versions will not only be
popular commercially, but the later versions like 802.16 will also work with
lesser spectrum, and will thus also be cheaper.

Meanwhile, operators and vendors await with bated breath the
LTE results abroad, and feel that after obtaining 3G, they may be able to offer
LTE as well on 4G spectrum based on commercial success elsewhere. Experts also
believe that since 4G is available on the same bandwidth, so as long as the
regulatory authority doesn't designate spectrum specifically for 3G or 4G,
operators will be free to choose either, and thus offer more options to
customers. This should happen faster after the BWA auctions, for which 20 Mhz of
spectrum will be allocated to operators for WiMax.

Some of the advantages of LTE is that it provides download
speeds of atleast 100 Mbps, supports scalable carrier bandwidths, from 20 Mhz
down to 1.4 Mhz and it supports both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time
division duplexing (TDD). LTE's System Architecture Evolution, a flat IP based
network architecture is designed to replace the GPRS Core Network and ensure
support for and mobility between some legacy or non-3GPP systems, for example,
GPRS and WiMax respectively.

LTE also offers high throughput, low latency, plug and play,
FDD and TDD in the same platform, an improved end-user experience and a simple
architecture resulting in low operating costs. LTE will also support seamless
passing to cell towers with older network technology such as GSM, cdmaOne, W-CDMA
(UMTS), and CDMA2000.

This is further backed by scope of innovation on aspects like
customer sales, customer care, network management and billing. For instance,
online buying can reduce customer sales expenses by as much as two thirds. On
the other hand, better network management can go a long way in offering cheaper
services in periods beyond peak hours. So while we play the wait-and-watch game,
let's explore how other nations are progressing towards LTE deployment.

Progress in Other Markets

While Japan was the first nation to test LTE, French operator SFR recently
selected Nokia Siemens Networks to expand its mobile broadband coverage, enhance
service quality, and pilot LTE. Accordingly, Nokia Siemens Networks will upgrade
SFR's radio network and will provide, operate and maintain its new all-IP packet
core technology to support 4G LTE services, and the two companies will thus work
together to trial LTE services. Accordingly, the two companies will collaborate
on piloting LTE services using Flexi Multiradio base stations that can be
software upgraded to enable HSPA+ and LTE capability, as well as Nokia Siemens
Networks' Evolved Packet Core for LTE. This LTE specification will provide
downlink peak rates of at least 100 Mbps, an uplink of at least 50 Mbps and RAN
round-trip times of less than 10 ms. This comes after Nokia Siemens Network tied
up with Vodafone Italy to test LTE for its network.

Motorola also recently signed a contract with Zain Saudi
Arabia to deploy its first LTE network in capital, Riyadh. Accordingly, Motorola
will provide an end-to-end LTE solution including RAN, EPC, devices and
optimization and integration services. Deployment will begin in the Q2, and will
allow Zain to offer high-speed mobile broadband services to its customers, and
offer real-time multimedia applications such as videoconferencing, high
definition (HD) content streaming, video blogging, and more. Motorola and Zain
will thus deploy a FDD LTE network in the 2.6GHz band, overlaying Zain's
existing 3G network.

China's ZTE also tied up with Portugal's Optimus to build the
latter's SDR which will replace its 2G/3G infrastructure and provide a smooth
evolution path to LTE. ZTE's SDR network will include SDR RAN, network
management system, and operation systems and software (NMS/OSS), enabling
Optimus to optimize current 2G/3G services and smoothly upgrade to LTE. The
network rollout will cover four regions in central Portugal. ZTE is also
conducting LTE trials for Telefonica, as well as over ten other operators, which
include Singapore Telecom, China Mobile and CSL.

Several other operators announced LTE deployments at Mobile
World Congress 2010 in Barcelona including Comsys Mobile, Alcatel-Lucent,
Orange, Motorola and Huawei. According to Wan Biao, president, wireless, Huawei,
"This milestone heralds that the industry is moving towards the Giga-bits era of
mobile broadband. Huawei is committed to accelerating the commercialization and
adoption of LTE technology by continuously offering solutions to reduce the
per-bit cost and improve profitability for operators worldwide."

From the above few examples, it is clear that an atmosphere
of mergers and convergence is one of the highlights of LTE. Speaking at a recent
NGN conference, Deepak Mukherjee, GM (Switching) mobile service, MTNL said,
"Data is ruling the roost now. Unification of services is thus the future trend,
with convergence of home to office and on-the-move network enabling.
Requirements of converged and technology independent services is the same
addressing over emergent, etc. Segregation of services need a common database.
After 3G, NGN will become service agnostic. FMC and W-Fi will receive spectrum
released and can use less spectrum, as NGN requires less spectrum."

NGN Technology to Aid FMC

According to the IDEATE report, although LTE does not support
circuit-switched (CS) services, which current mobile networks primarily use for
voice services, LTE can utilize VoIP together with an IMS (IP Multimedia
Subsystem) network to deliver delay-sensitive, real-time voice services.
Presently, while operators see VoIP as a threat to their 3G networks, VoLTE can
benefit both operators and users. The realistic aim for operators after adopting
LTE, thus, would be to maintain current ARPU levels by offering premium
services, and to keep being a smart pipe by staying at the core of the ecosystem
by means of controlling the network and specific activities on top of it. Thus,
LTE will be likely to accelerate FMC, network sharing and strategic
partnerships, especially in the current financial scenario.

According to Satya Gupta, chief regulatory advisor, SAARC
Region, BT (India), "VoIP and IPTV are only two of the things NGN promises. One
can do everything over IP, especially in this age of convergence of services and
applications. NGN is an ecosystem predominated by packetization. Packetization
brings great efficiency, while IPTV also brings flexibility and efficiency.
Thus, NGN must be based on packetization. Separation between infrastructure and
service provision is also characteristic of NGN, example coming down from
crossbar in telecom. Internet uses OSS model which offers more flexibility (laid
approach)--this approach is brought forth in telecom by NGN. There are basically
three layers--infrastructure, service control area and applications layer--the
last of which is most important."

He continues, "Further, there have to be different operators
for different services--not only a single SP for everything, as is the case
today. Applications, more than services, brings in the moolah. Moreover, this
segment can be controlled by the user himself--thus making the customer an SP.
Thus, NGN is service-oriented architecture. IP is required to get the best out
of the network to satisfy customers. So there is no option for operators but to
embrace NGN to aid with choice of service offerings at a low price point. NGN
brings efficiency and innovation. NGN permits co-existence of legacy system with
packetization. One cannot make money from voice or data, but video is a key
revenue earner--thus IPTV or mobile TV has scope here. One can say that FMC's
time has come."

Cost vs Feasibility

Having stated time and again that in its current version, LTE is expensive,
let's look at how feasible it is to deploy the network, in terms of which
operators could benefit most.

Licensing and spectrum requirements.Based on modelling
results and considering the case of a MNO already operating GSM and 3G networks,
the total cumulated investment for the LTE RAN overlay deployment amounts to 335
mn.

This is the figure to be considered for a territory of 10 mn
inhabitants with a 75% population coverage in urban and suburban areas, without
taking into account the cost of a national radio licence for 20 MHz of paired
spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band which is valued at 80 mn EUR (0.20 EUR per MHz and
per inhabitant), nor backhauling costs estimated at 112 mn EUR.

According to research, integrated tier-1 players and mobile
tier-1 players would have the most advantages of LTE deployment. Considering the
investment involved in backhaul upgrades, it is the integrated operators who are
even better placed than mobile tier-1 operators as they can benefit from their
existing infrastructure (ducts,chamber) to lower the cost of the upgrade.

Moreover, LTE deployments will be undertaken in dense areas
(metropolitan and urban areas). Suburban areas will be second to be covered
since the LTE business case for this type of territory remains globally
unchanged. LTE deployment in rural areas is less likely to happen in the 2.6 Ghz
band as the cost per covered inhabitant is prohibitive. In this regard, access
to lower frequencies in the digital dividend (790-862 MHz) positively transforms
the LTE business case as fewer cell sites are needed to provide the same level
of coverage.

Licensing and Spectrum Requirements

As far as licenses are concerned, licences for building new base stations,
and current antielectromagnetic pressures could hinder LTE deployment. Further,
various constraints regarding maximum power and additional antennae apply. LTE
can be deployed in both 2G and 3G frequency bands, but more is needed, and
awarding licences can be complicated. New frequency bands will be allocated in
the coming years, but both former bands and new bands will be used for LTE. In
the USA, licences for UHF bands and 2.5 GHz band are already awarded, but in
Europe the situation is much more complicated.

In the Indian context, since 4G can operate on the same
bandwidth as 3G in the later versions, it is up to operators to choose whether
to deploy it or not, if they are allowed to use the same license for deploying
all networks. According to Gupta, "India is a leader in leap-frogging technology
and basically spectrum requirement is the same for 3G or 4G--so the operator
will be free to use 4G as long as the government doesn't stop it. The government
shouldn't mention if spectrum is for 3G or 4G--operators instead should take a
call on this, providing for technology neutrality."

As far as versions of LTE deployment are concerned, FDD is
the dominant duplexing mode, but TDD is gaining ground, under the strong
influence of China. Thus, while the FDD mode has been used by mobile systems
from the first generation, the TDD mode is currently used by Mobile WiMax WiBRO
and the Chinese 3G standard TD-SCDMA. In addition, TDD is more suited to data
services, and more operators are demanding harmonized equipment. Both 3GPP and
3GPP2 standards lead to LTE, and LTE supports both FDD and TDD. Thus, this makes
it the natural goal for all mobile broadband technologies.

LTE in India

Although the much-awaited 3G auctions are soon to take place, it is
insufficient, being based primarily on a wide-area concept, whereas we need
hybrid networks that utilize both WLAN (hot spot) concept and cell or
base-station wide area network design to meet the needs of future
high-performance applications like multi-media, full-motion video, wireless
teleconferencing. Also, existence of multiple standards for 3G makes it
difficult to roam and interoperate across networks.

According to a report by MIT School of Telecom and Management
(MITSOT), there is a need for network technology that extends 3G capacity by an
order of magnitude and also offers global mobility and service portability
seamlessly. This solution has to provide wider bandwith in order to provide
different services efficiently. Thus, future IP converged network must provide
services in digital packets uilizing IP in its fullest form by converging voice,
video, and data capability. The solution has to utilize upmost frequencies
available efficiently.

Talking about steps taken towards deployment of LTE, Ranjan
Banerjee, head, strategy and corporate business development, TTSL says, "We are
very keen that 4G comes to the country. Around the same time that 3G auctions
are to be held here, in Germany there will be 4G auctions--which just goes to
prove that we are not keeping in pace with the rest of the world--so this will
impact us in terms of providing broadband and other data services with respect
to pricing and availability especially. However, the decision on LTE still needs
to be taken in terms of frequency bandwidth, etc, so based on that we will make
a move. Till then we are waiting for clarity from Trai. Japan being the first
nation to launch LTE, we will take up learnings from our partner DOCOMO there.
Having a plethora of technology options that include CDMA, GSM, EVDO and
hopefully 3G, and LTE being a convergence point for all technology, we are at an
advantage for deploying LTE."

Operators' All for LTE

We have already enumerated the scope for LTE in making the user an operator,
providing for virtual navigation, scope in tele-medicine, tele-geoprocessing,
looked at its benefits in crisis-management, education, agriculture and
defense--and beyond that its scope for operators to come up with better RoI
models based on the numerous application possibilities that LTE and 4G present.
According to leading operators, in the current scenario wherein only 5 Mhz has
been allotted for 3G, which has to be shared with 2G operators for voice, it
will lead to choking and ability to provide data will drop disproportionately.

Elaborating further on the scope of NGN like LTE in India,
Naveen Sood, GM, wireline NGN/Acess/IMS, Alcatel-Lucent India says, "NGN can
help with freeing the spectrum, and putting the user in control. The biggest
challenge remains the different operators and different plans by them. We
support 3GPP for FMC, and VCC application server Release 8 for FMC. Alcatel has
communicated availability of FMC solution and is working to convert its network
into fixed mobile. It is therefore working with solution providers for this."

Therefore, a higher spectral efficient technology like 4G,
where data throughput speed is also better, is being saluted by one and all.
Remarks Banerjee, "LTE commitment around the globe is quite significant (more
than sixty committed operators). However, discrepancies with regard to band
frequency, efficiency and benefits of LTE with larger chunks of spectrum (like
250 Mhz) is needed to be made available, and we also need to settle on a
frequency that is harmonized with the rest of the world. Since Trai has already
floated a consultation paper, they should hopefully be able to launch this
faster than 3G. Thus, there is definitely scope for LTE in India, and it should
come in with no further delay."

India has lost considerable time in planning for 3G. We are
not in a position to miss the LTE opportunities. We want action from operators
and the government.

Beryl M

berylm@cybermedia.co.in