The TD-LTE vs WiMax Battle takes new turns

As the fierce battle of auctions
for 3G spectrum starts after the long saga of demands and delays, there are a
plethora of challenges that are becoming evident with each passing day. With the
BWA spectrum expected to start just two days after the 3G auctions, the
competition between the different technologies for broadband spectrum is
becoming apparent. WiMax and TD-LTE are being pitched in the auctions as rival
technologies. With the industry fiercely debating on which is the better
technology, the heat has intensified.

The clear cut need for India is to boost broadband penetration. Voice
teledensity has already crossed 50% and the subscriber base has increased to
over 600 mn, but broadband penetration is lagging behind at a miniscule 8 mn.

The country has ambitious plans in the aftermath of the BWA auctions as
broadband is being seen as the option that will spur the nation to new
socio-economic development. Visionary plans to increase the deployment of CSCs,
e-governance, and telemedicine are on the anvil; also with the proliferation of
online commerce, a lot is being planned so as to chart a new growth trajectory.
The Indian government, in order to fully capitalize on this growth, must pay
careful attention to a number of factors to ensure selection of advanced
wireless technologies that deliver not only profitable business but also help in
propelling broadband penetration. Both WiMax and TD-LTE are expected to work on
the BWA spectrum as DoT has decided not to specify the technology used on the
bands. The recent announcement of Qualcomm to bid for BWA spectrum in India to
support a TD-LTE has ensued a new war between the two wireless technologies. The
battle is between two leading chip makers, Qualcomm that supports TD-LTE and
Intel that supports WiMax initiatives.

TD-LTE or WiMax?

That is the question doing the rounds ever since the auction scene began in
the country. As the industry stands divided on the issue, a sneak peek into both
these technologies can perhaps provide a clearer picture as to which one is fit
to take the country on its broadband ride.

"WiMax is the father of LTE," says CS Rao, chairman, WiMax Forum. And has a
clear stand that the needs and requirements of the country can only be provided
by WiMax and not TD-LTE.

He adds that, "TD-LTE would not be in the commercial production stage before
2013, and for it to reach the same stage of readiness as WiMax (802.16e version)
would take at the least another four years." The statement clearly puts a
question mark on the timeframe of deployment of the mobile Internet access and
wireless broadband.

Jaikishan Rajaraman, senior director, GSM Association, has a contradictory
view: "At present India is offering 20 MHz of BWA spectrum for future mobile
broadband rollout in this band. It is common knowledge that WiMax requires 30
MHz to work effectively. So TD-LTE is a better technology for India."

An effective lobbying for WiMax is being done by the industry. It is also
worth noting that WiMax has been deployed for 500 + NWs across 147 countries and
has a global coverage-covering 680 mn people. And it has over fifteen BTS
manufacturers, eighteen chip manufacturers, and over thirty-five device
manufacturers with a robust ecosystem. However, Kanwalinder Singh, President,
Qualcomm India and South Asia says, "In India's unpaired 2.3 GHz spectrum, TD-LTE
is the best suited technology to complement current and upcoming 3G deployments
and address India's demand for high bandwidth broadband services."

The industry, since 2005 (Rel.5 Standard), has been advocating heavily to all
telcos that 3G would meet the needs of mobile broadband. Now it is well known
that 3G adoption for mobile broadband is only at around 11% of GSM installed
base inspite of the fact that 3G has been there in the rest of the world since
2000 (Rel.99 standard).

TD-LTE is an afterthought of the 3G industry and is yet to become a standard;
expected to be finalized in October 2010. The 3G lobby realized lately that 3G
cannot meet the needs of mobile and wireless broadband. The global 3G industry
wanted TD-LTE as the first release for mobile broadband driven by Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile,
etc, in the US markets .

Limited traction of TD-LTE is also being questioned by many in the telecom
fraternity. There are allegations that TD-LTE is being driven by interests of
'one country' (read China) and 'one company' (read China Mobile). Rao says, "TD-LTE
adoption in the 2.3 GHz band is purely driven by China's interests. Thus it has
very limited traction." The fact that TD-LTE is being advocated only since the
past two years and that too by some European nations and in the 2.6 GHz bands,
might succeed in giving some ground to the allegations. Intel, which is a
beneficiary of WiMax technology, is clearly pro-WiMax.

Split Wide Open

According to DK Ghosh, chairman & MD, ZTE Telecom, "WiMax using 4G
technology is a much better solution and can meet the users' demand for wireless
data services and also enable operators to tap the new business growth areas.
WiMax is ultra-high spectrum efficiency, and allows operators to provide users
with more options."

P Balaji, VP, marketing & strategy, Ericsson India, speaks of the other
aspect: "Since WiMax requires 3-cell frequency reuse, and thus 30 MHz of
available bandwidth, it is questionable if it will even work to deploy WiMax in
the Indian 20 MHz BWA allocations, without severe interference issues, resulting
in substantial capacity and performance losses."

Obviously, the market is split between the two technologies. From
scalability, backward compatibility, advantage of coverage, technology
performance, device interoperability to every other aspect is being debated and
dissected by the entire fraternity.

Although there is a lot of heat that has been generated on the topic, most
telecom operators have taken a stand for WiMax. Telcos need multiband spectrum
and global users need roaming across different bands.

Device interoperability with different BTS infrastructure vendors and core
network infrastructure is another compelling need for bulk rollout of technology
for BWA. TD-LTE is far from that status as it does not even have a fixed
standard, thus silicon is not there for commercial readiness, neither are
commercial networks. WiMax had overcome all this over three years ago.

Device certification process is another major step, especially for broadband
service to work seamlessly across global networks. TD-LTE is nowhere even close
to the start of this process. WiMax has been in this since the past five years
with over 300 devices certified from over thirty-seven manufacturers. That is
where WiMax scores well ahead of TD-LTE .

Money Matters

Rao says, "TD-LTE claims and boasts too much of ensuring backward compatibility
with 2G/3G networks, etc, and that means the LTE devices in the future should
support all four bands of GSM (800/900/1800/1900 Mhz bands) Radio,1 band of 3G
(2.1Ghz) and at the least three bands (2.3Ghz /2.5Ghz and 700 Mhz) of LTE." This
would make LTE devices too expensive for use by even the middle class in India
as well as the hinterland.

The broadband segment is the most under served market in India and so
deployment of a mature technology which has a well developed ecosystem can
ensure affordable services and devices, and thus make it a mass market
phenomenon. GSM already has a thriving ecosystem in India, with 75% of the 2G
mobile market. Furthermore, India is also eagerly awaiting the arrival of 2.1
GHz spectrum which is ideally suited to HSPA 3G technology deployment.

Rajaraman says, "GSM technologies, HSPA and TD-LTE, both stem from a proven
global ecosystem that connects a majority of the world's population to mobile
services. Not only does GSM technology have the backing of more than 800 of the
world's mobile operators, it also includes the world's largest vendors as
supporters including Ericsson, NSN, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and Qualcomm."

He also says, "With a global scale, GSM technologies can drive incredible
economies of scale, forcing down prices for infrastructure and devices, ensuring
that technology remains as accessible as possible. WiMax simply can't compete on
this basis, with only a handful of small deployments being supported by a
limited number of devices."

The WiMax Edge

WiMax is years ahead in terms of technological maturity, devices and ecosystem.
This gives WiMax a complete edge as compared to TD-LTE. Supports A ethu Raman,
executive director, product and solution, Huawei, "WiMax as a broadband
technology has been deployed in large scale across the globe and has a robust
ecosystem support. Also both service and end user devices are affordable. Having
said that, TD-LTE is a technology that has a lot of promise, and is in the
development phase at the moment where the device ecosystem is not fully
developed yet." Subhendu Mohanty, country head, home & network mobility
business, India, Motorola says, "Since both are 4G technologies. They should be
positioned as per need. All technology growth will be driven as per demand."

In Conclusion

Wireless has shown why teledensity has improved so quickly, including in
rural India. The wireless based broadband evolution path is the path to
prosperity for India. Only time tested, commercially available technologies with
a wide range of affordable devices would make this broadband growth a reality in
India. Hence WiMax, 3G, DSL and xPON, over the next four years can be the mature
technologies of choice which can quickly transform today's India into an always
connected and online, catering to the youth and bridging the digital divide.

Indian multimillion Fiber Route Kilometers assets of BSNL, RCOM, Airtel, TTSL,
PGCIL, RailTel, GAILTEL, etc, can be quickly exploited and xPON could be used if
only xPON based broadband subscriber devices are made available at around Rs
5,000. 3G also can be minimally used for broadband growth if it is not going to
be used for adding the next 150 mn voice subscribers from top 150 urban centers
in India. If Trai is going to mandate a minimum broadband speed as 2 Mbps per
user, as is done in many countries, 3G adoption for broadband will be completely
unviable in India at the current auction levels.

Wireless voice service is currently saturated, with every operator
complaining about the decline in ARPU. To survive in this environment and make
money, operators must find new business growth areas. WiMax using 4G technology
is a much better solution and can meet the users demand for wireless data
services and also enable the operators to tap new business growth areas. The
biggest USP of WiMax is that large-scale investments are not required to provide
broadband connectivity for using it. There is a huge market in India that is
waiting to be tapped, and technologies like WiMax can help. Anshuman Sah, VP,
network business, Samsung says, "It will be an intelligent move by the telecom
fraternity if they go for technology that is already existing rather than
spending on what is yet to be."

Going by the willingness of operators and a bent of the industry, everyone
seems to be more willing towards the deployment of WiMax technology. With the
robust ecosystem support, WiMax has already won half the battle with the
credibility it has been able to arouse in and outside the country. So while the
country awaits the strategies that will accelerate the country towards better
prospects, only time will show who will win the bid and play an instrumental
role in devising an alluring broadband model for the country.

Archana Singh

archanasi@cybermedia.co.in