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Mobile Broadband Forum 2010

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:34:40 +0000

Mobile technology for the next generation

The Mobile Broadband Forum 2010

Special streams about LTE and RCS.

Alfredo Baptista, CTO of Portugal Telecom to deliver Keynote Address

October from Oct 12-15 in Lisbon/Portugal, the Mobile Broadband Forum 2010 will take place, a unique conference that combines the LTE Forum and the RCS Forum in one conference full of Workshops, Panel Sessions and Keynote Presentations from leading analysts, international operators, regulators and leading representatives from the industry.

Both technologies, LTE and RCS, are complementary and analysts confirm that new service requirements — particularly those enabled by the RCS specifications — and new wireless architectures - especially LTE - are driving new, more urgent requirements to move to IMS-style software architectures in the core of the network.

Mobile Broadband Forum – Stream A “LTE Forum”
The LTE Forum 2010 will help operators to identify the evolutionary steps to 3G LTE (Long Term Evolution), to understand the drivers for migrating, and to determine what they need to be doing now to ensure their network remains competitive.
Presentations from mobile operators and other industry experts will help delegates to understand why, when and how to migrate to 3G LTE, and what they should be doing now to ensure their networks remain competitive into the future.

Mobile Broadband Forum – Stream B “RCS Forum”
The Rich Communications Suite has been heralded as marking a major revolution in personal mobile communications. With promising signs from early trials and widespread support amongst the mobile operator and vendor ecosystem, many in the industry believe that RCS will significantly change the nature of personal communications.

The Mobile Broadband Forum 2010 bring operators, vendors, end-users, regulators, experts, analysts and the media together to discuss, debate, and discover trends and strategies of the Next Generation Mobile technology.

Visit the conference website at www.mobile-broadband-forum.com

Organiser: HanseCom Media and Communication

LTE Just Became More Interesting – LIGHTSQUARED

Mikel Robinson — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:22:30 +0000

Live from New York on July 20, 2010 was a PR announcement that didn’t especially catch those listening by surprise. The comments have been leaking for many months overtime for such an ambitious project but lacked the details necessary to form a robust discussion, but now we have it; the merging of assets from SkyTerra, Terra Corp, and Harbinger Capital Partners to form a New, truly OPEN, truly NET NEUTRAL 4G LTE network for BOTH satellite and terrestrial use - LIGHTSQUARED. The announcement comes as Harbinger Capital has announced $4.75 billion (current and future) equity and financing for the project. In addition to funding for the roll out, they have announced a $7 Billion agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks to develop, deploy, install, operate and maintain their terrestrial base stations, including some 36,000 base stations as well as their core network and infrastructure. With the partners in place and financing acquired, LIGHTSQUARED plans to offer TRULY NATIONWIDE LTE COVERAGE to 92% of Americans by 2015. The most interesting aspect of the company’s business model is that LIGHTSQUARED will strictly be a WHOLESALE network - they will have no direct retail association with end users. The power and the scope of this announcement is unprecedented and will prove (mark my words) to truly shake the axiomatic dominance of the current business models of today’s successful Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s).

Meet the Players
The power of the team that has been assembled is impressive. If you’ve only heard company names like Harbinger Capital, Terra Corp and others thrown around and only slightly identified them with buzz words (private investment firm, satellite provider, etc) allow me the opportunity to introduce the companies and recap the events over the last few years:

Harbinger Capital has (quite simply) made its money off of the collapse of the US Economy. The toxic derivatives investments made by Fanny, Freddy, Countrywide, etc were sniffed out by Philip Falcone and his investment partners and they formed Harbinger Capital in 2001. Quickly growing in size and reaching critical mass, by 2007 they had made billions and more was still to come. Falcone had his beliefs and ideas in assorted fields other then finance, including philanthropy, politics, economic policy, and technology.

Satellite Companies
Harbinger decided to move forward with majority ownership in companies Sky Terra, and Terra Corp, which have launched and operated satellites for next generation communication. These companies have acquired (since the late 1980’s) over 50MHZ of spectrum in the 2Ghz band for satellite as well as terrestrial use. Over 20MHZ of spectrum is continuous across the Continental US, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Terrestrial player Nokia Siemens Networks stand as the premier piece to this puzzle. Together (through mergers and acquisitions) NSN has assembled a strategic niche in the mobile market by not only providing hardware sales and deployment, but also managed services for major companies such as Century Link (formerly Embarq, which was formally Sprint Landline) and Sprint/Nextel. Their expertise in not only operating and maintaining these networks for optimum performance and cost savings to carrier is coupled with DECADES worth of intellectual property in the feasibility/scalability of nationwide network deployments, microwave backhaul, andkey mobile network usage projections, traffic optimization and ultimately ROI.

LEADERSHIP
The leadership team at LIGHTSQUARED has Sanjiv Ahuja serving as Chief Executive Officer. Ahuja has served as CEO most recently at Orange, where (under his leadership) the company added service from 17 to 23 nations, and increased users by the millions and revenues by the billions. In addition to the board of Orange, he also is currently serving on the board of the IEEE. Ahuja has seen the growth of mobile data and decided to join LIGHTSQUARED in March 2010
"LightSquared will be a disruptive force in the U.S. wireless landscape by democratizing wireless broadband services; we're not only delivering exciting opportunities for manufacturers and retailers, but also real change for consumers.”
The team behind Ahuja is peppered with well seasoned telecom veterans from companies such as Time Warner, Ericsson, Clearwire, Sprint/Nextel, Marconi, Orange, as well as many other international leaders in the industry.
While many may challenge the ideas and solutions that will come from a startup wireless company (watch for a subsequent article in the coming days) one thing is certain: wholesale success has been seen in the wireline industry for many years, from the likes of so many both in the copper and fiber optic business models. We have not seen a company offer only wholesale services of its wireless network, so the ultimate question which I will answer later is ARE WE READY FOR A WHOLESALE 4G NETWORK?

The possibilities can start to fill the mind pretty quickly; auto, consumer electronics and consumer appliance manufactures can have their own link to their products and their users. Governments and the military will have access to citizens, soldiers, and (potentially) even subsidized residential broadband connections. Major Healthcare providers can now provide access (subsidized through private insurance as well as potentially government dollars) linking patients and health care pro’s for increased health care monitoring. So, included with your insurance premium would be a triple bypass, which will then monitor your health care metrics directly to a database at the hospital when you’re at home or traveling. Game and Web developers can now offer your WOW subscription to INCLUDE broadband access…Wal-Mart can now offer “Sam’s Wireless” as a cheap prepaid internet alternative. The possibilities are just too much fun to think about. According to LIGHTSQUARED’s press releases, the company should (directly and indirectly) create more than 100,000 jobs over the next 5 years. I am a firm believer in competition in the market place, as well as healthy job creation based on demand. This product and this company are a positive step in that direction, as well as a giant leap in consumer choice, healthy competition, and broadband end user experience.

SK Telecom Announces Latest Network Upgrades

Michael Licata — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:15:02 +0000

SK Telecom is bringing sweeping changes to its network in South Korea. It will start by improving the performance and capacity of its 3G network. Beginning in 2010, the company will use additional bandwidth allocated by the Korean Communications Commission. SK will also will launch HSPA+ technology for the first time in South Korea. This upgrade comes after a the launch of HSUPA in 59 cities. The third part of the 3G upgrade involves doubling the capacity of existing base stations by adding a solution. The operator claims it will enhance frequency efficiency, resulting in sable data traffic. SK also updated its plans for LTE launch. The company is looking to start commercial services in Seoul in 2011. They hope to expand coverage to the Seoul metropolitan area and six addition metropolises in 2012. SK will provide LTE to all parts of South Korea by 2013. They've begun LTE trials along with stating they have the capabilities for the commercialization of LTE. SK will also be the first South Korean operator to launch mobile VoIP services. CEO Jung Man-Won stated the decision to launch M-VoIP follows an extensive study of customers' data usage. SK Telecom has the largest subscriber base in all of South Korea. They're often on the cutting edge of developing technology because the Korean market has long been on the forefront of technological developments. Once SK begins commercial LTE services, it should be interesting to see how long the adoption takes. It's large consumer base should help LTE growth happen faster than other operators.

Two LTE Operators Announce Testing Protocols

Michael Licata — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:23:33 +0000

There has been a lot of LTE activity going on recently and its happening around the world. Clear Mobitel began LTE trials in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Optus, an Australian operator recently released its findings from the first round of LTE test network. Clear Mobitel will use space in the 800MHz frequency range around the area of Caradon Hill. It's expected that 300 people will take part in the first phase of the project. The company will focus on testing LTE as a viable high speed wireelss broadband solution for the rural consumer. Clear Mobitel purchased the spectrum space after the turn of analogue TV broadcasting in April 2009. Optus claims its download speeds peaked in excess of 50Mbps. Nokia Siemens Networks provided the equipment for the testing with the core network hosted at NSN's Pyrmont office. The trial, which occurred over two base stations in Gordon and Pymble in northern Sydney used NSN's Flexi base station, network gateway and network server products. The spectrum uses 10MHz of paired spectrum in the 2100MHz band. The trial was to test upload/download speeds, ping times and handover between the two base station. The second phase of the testing will test full load, heavy use along with 2G/3G/LTE interoperability. They will probably expand the test to include more people. It will help see how the network can handle large volume of use. If the speeds reported are close to being true, it's another great opportunity to showcase the advantages that LTE has over its competition. After phase two, Optus will probably have to upgrade or build more base stations before beginning commercial services in Sydney. Clear Mobitel's launch will probably be somewhat slower, with it only being in the firs phase of testing.

Megafon To Begin LTE Tests in Tatarstan Region in Russia

Michael Licata — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Megafon will start LTE tests in Kazan in the Tatarstan region of Russia. It will happen later this year. Megafon rival, Scartel, through Yota will spend $100 million in 2010 to launch LTE in five cities. They previously launched 4G networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg using WiMAX instead of LTE.

"Tatarstan has everything you need to create a LTE test zone in Kazan, including technical ability and willingness to invest in technology development," said Igor Azure, regional director of the Tatarstan Volga branch of Megafon

Megafon is expected to be awarded the LTE spectrum before Scartel gets additional spectrum space to launch the LTE networks. Yota was the first major operator that switched from WiMAX to LTE. They're still the only operator that's made a switch in 4G technologies. U.S. operator Clearwire has hinted at changing over to LTE but it won't happen before 2012. Changing over to LTE costs a lot of money because operators must swap out the radios in their base stations. The technologies also work on different frequencies, but the high speed capabilities still exist. Recently, a Russian telecommunications regulator approved Yota's switch from WiMAX to LTE. They broke even after five months of operation in their networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This was mostly due to the first WiMAX-enabled phone on the market. Russia has always been an important technology market. They have many advancements and 4G technology could really help because it's such a vast and large country where land line can't be installed. 4G works over mountains and expansive terrain. The competition between Megafon and Yota will be fierce and the winners in the end will be the subscribers because they'll pay less in fees and cost.

T-Mobile Announces Additional 25 Markets for HSPA+

Michael Licata — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:40:07 +0000

T-Mobile USA announced that 25 more cities will be getting HSPA+. It's a the fastest 3G speeds available. Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh and New Orleans will all be getting HSPA+ using T-Mobile's network. T-Mobile claims that the updated network provides speeds comparable to 4G wireless networks. In perfect conditions, HSPA+ speeds of 21 MBps. The actual test speeds are around 5Mpbs to 8Mbps downloads with it peaking at 10Mbps or higher. Sprint offers the only 4G network, through its partnership with Clearwire. AT&T will upgrade their network to HSPA+ during the second half of 2010. T-Mobile plans on launching HSPA+ handsets, but currently only offer USB modems. The network will cover 75 million people by the end of June with plans on covering 185 people by the end of 2010. Sprint released the only 4G handset, the HTC EVO 4G. T-Mobile will need to release a HSPA+ handset soon to get more people to switch over to their network. AT&T has a lot of work to do, but will get more people to switch to the advanced 3G network with the fourth generation iPhone being released in July.

Verizon and CETECOM Team Up To Test LTE Devices

Michael Licata — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:24:35 +0000

Verizon Wireless will test their latest LTE devices at the CETECOM laboratory. It's in preparation for a nationwide 4G network using LTE that Verizon is building in the 700MHz spectrum. CETECOM will validate the LTE devices that meet the minimal performance and conformance specifications necessary to operate on the Verizon Wireless LTE network. Any chip makers or device manufacturers that want to offer the device on the network will be able to work with CETECOM engineers to validate the offerings. It is the first time the two companies will work together on device testing. In a developer's webcast, Tony Lewis, Verizon's VP of Open Development hinted that the company's LTE footprint will be up to its current 3G print by 2013. Lewis also stated that by the end of 2010, LTE will cover about 100 million people. Verizon is currently testing the technology in Boston and Seattle and will launch in 25-20 markets during the fourth quarter of this year. The LTE network will provide download speeds of 5 to 12MBps on average. To start, they will offer USB modems and data cards for laptops. A different Verizon executive stated that all the top manufacturers are developing LTE-enabled phones for Verizon, which will come to market in early 2011. Verizon hopes to cover up to 200 million people by the end of 2011. Verizon will get LTE ready for the U.S. market soon. Adoption is going to take a little longer because only USB modems are being offered to start. If Verizon can get Blackberry, along with HTC and Motorola to develop LTE phones, they'll be ahead of AT&T in launching a LTE network. In the device race, Verizon needs to get the smart phones out to have a market advantage over AT&T before they can release the LTE-enabled iPhone. Apple will release the fourth generation iPhone later in June, but it's not LTE-enabled. It means that the iPhone will use more data and more spectrum space than ever before. LTE gives the data advantage to Verizon or the other operators that own the precious space as more and more people migrate towards smart phones.

India Spectrum Auction Nets $8.22 Billion

Michael Licata — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:45:16 +0000

India's broadband wireless access auction closed after 16 days of bidding. They raised Rs 38,617 crore or $8.22 billion. Add this to the recent 3G auction and the government's treasure chest by Rs 106,000 or $33.67 billion, three times the expected Rs 35,000 crore. It was a banner day for LTE. Two slots of 20-megahertz capacity in the 2.3 GHz band were up for auction in 22 Indian service areas. Broadband connection availability will become more widespread and start the base for e-governance platforms across various states. It sets India up to be the most influential wireless broadband internet market in the world. Qualcomm won spectrum space and will deploy TD-LTE. The sole nationwide spectrum went to startup internet service provider Infotel Broadband Services. It cost $2.47 billion. The company was recently purchased by Reliance Industries. Infotel will also use TD-LTE instead of WiMAX. Qualcomm must sign an agreement with an Indian partner per the bidding rules. Aircel, Tikona Digital Networks, Bharti Airtel and Augere all won spectrum space in one of the 22 markets. Reliance Communications' WiMAX division, Idea Cellular, Vodafone Essar, ISP Spice Internet at Tata Communications failed to win spectrum licenses. A few of the rejected companies were staunch WiMAX supporters. India will be the biggest market for mobile broadband in the near future. TD-LTE provides greater speeds than WiMAX and LTE. It was recently showcased at an event in Shanghai using Sequans Communications chipset and conducted by China Mobile. TD-LTE works on unpaired frequencies. It gives operators several possibilities, including launching on separate frequencies and providing incredible wireless speeds. Working on unpaired frequencies provides less stress on the spectrum. This allows more data usage for the end user. The auction was supposed to take place earlier this year and the regulators delayed it because of preparations by the operators and other factors. It turned out pretty well for all those involved. India will become an early leader in TD-LTE development. State-owned BSNL already launched WiMAX in a few markets. They will have to pay the equivalent of what the winning bidders paid.

Taiwanese Regulators Give Blessing to LTE Switch

Michael Licata — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:44:00 +0000

The National Communications Commission of Taiwan will allow some of its WiMAX operators to switch to LTE. Global Mobile, Tatung Telecom, FarEasTone and VMAX won technology neutral spectrum licenses. The government regulators are positive towards the operators making the eventual shift from WiMAX to LTE. The four operators don't have a timetable on when they'll switch over, but they must apply to the NCC before altering operational plans. In order to make the switch, the radios must be swapped out on all base stations. Fitel and Vee have WiMAX-specific concessions in their spectrum space. Licensing for the next round of 4G won't happen until 2014. No decisions have been made regarding the number of 4G licenses that will be awarded. Russian operator Yota is the first of the major WiMAX operators to switch from WiMAX to LTE. They'll convert their entire network, spending around $2 billion to make the switch. It shouldn't be that much for the Taiwanese operators, but expect it to cost a lot. Yota was successful early on with WiMAX, launching initially in Moscow and St. Petersburg first and breaking even after five months of operation. U.S. operator Clearwire hasn't announced formal plans on switching to LTE, but it's been rumored for some time that they'll make the switch. Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow hinted that it won't be before 2012.

Apple Unveils iPhone 4, Event Marred by Network Difficulties

Michael Licata — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:20:42 +0000

It is an interesting day at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference. During Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address highlighting the latest iPhone device, he had to ask the audience members to turn off their Wi-Fi enabled devices because of overuse of the network Jobs used during the demonstration. Details were leaked when an Apple designer left the device at a bar, it was picked up and sold to website Gizmodo. They leaked some pretty juicy details, including the two cameras. The technology in the device is still very much unknown. The speculation has been rampant. It's expected that the dual cameras mean there will be video conferencing capabilities with the new iPhone. Jobs highlighted the video conferencing capability as the last great feature of the next generation iPhone. One has to wonder about the speeds of the wireless connection. Wi-Fi connection speeds aren't that great. 3G connection speeds are poor to begin with, so how bad will live video conferencing look? Jobs showcased the phone during his keynote speech at the event. It looks dazzling and the screen resolution is astounding.It's 326 pixels per inch on the screen. Jobs showcased the resolution by putting the two devices side-by-side to show how much better the screen is on the fourth generation iPhone. The extra camera means users will be able to record high definition video, cut, edit and email the video right on the phone. Apple will also release iMovie application for the iPhone. The screen shots stunned the audience. Jobs also showcased the new operating system, where users can create folders to categorize different apps. One of the most interesting develops would be the iAds feature. Selling advertising is an integral part of the iPhone experience. iAds brings an active participation for iPhone users. Jobs showcased the interactivity with a Nissan advertisement. Users can see the miles per gallon and other highlights of the latest Nissan vehicle. Jobs also announced that advertisers were going to spend $60 million on Apple ads. That's an impressive number and should make up a lot of the ad-specific market. It will help with the evolution of geo-targeted ads that aren't that far off. Imagine getting an ad for a restaurant that's a few feet away while you're looking for some where to get a bite to eat. It's not that far off. Many Macheads will be impressed with the latest offering, they'll gobble it up without a second thought. AT&T must figure out a way to accommodate even more users with higher data rates than normal. They've already decided to cap the amount of use because the iPhone uses so much more data and spectrum space than a normal smartphone. It's not going to be all sunshine and coolness if AT&T limits the data rates on iPhone users. Apple's built an impressive reputation and brand as the cool alternative to Microsoft and the stuffiness of PCs. Now they're facing their biggest challenge ever in the Android operating system and its parent, Google. The iPhone fourth generation is an impressive device, but tech heads were really hoping it would be 4G capable, more so an LTE phone or WiMAX-enabled. AT&T supports LTE as the 4G technology of choice, so it wouldn't be WiMAX enabled but it's not a more impressive device than the Sprint HTC EVO 4G. The 4G provides faster speeds. The video conferencing software may be easier to use on the iPhone, but it's still not going to be fast on a 3G connection. If you desire speed over style, check out the HTC EVO 4G instead of the 4th generation iPhone.