LTE to Reach 4 Percent of US Handset Sales in 2011

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Surprising results from market researcher Strategy Analytics show that LTE technology will account for 4 percent of mobile handset sales in the United States during 2011. Major players driving the emerging LTE market this year will include Samsung, Android and Verizon Wireless.

“We forecast LTE technology to account for 4 percent of mobile handset sales in the United States during 2011, rising from near-zero in 2010," said Tom Kang, Director at Strategy Analytics. "LTE is fast becoming a high-growth, high-value 4G market for handset vendors, component manufacturers and operators.”

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “The United States is already the world’s most important market for LTE handsets and services. Key players driving US LTE growth this year will include Samsung, HTC, LG, Android, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Emerging players that could shake up the LTE market over the next year include Apple, Amazon or even Nintendo.”

Strategy Analytics predicts LTE hit 100m units in the US by 2014, while HSUPA sales will grow at an above-average rate of 42% annually through the next 5 years. China, India and the USA will be the world's three largest markets (for phones generally) by 2015.

The full report, Global Handset Sales Forecast by Country, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service.

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NTT DOCOMO launches LTE service in Japan

NTT DOCOMO has launched Xi (Crossy), Japan's first LTE service, using Qualcomm's MDM9200 LTE/3G multi-mode chipset solution. DOCOMO has said that the Xi provides mobile data communication at a maximum downlink speed of 75 Mbps, which is roughly ten times as fast as DOCOMO's current FOMA W-CDMA service. The Xi service was initially launched in the Tokyo,Nagoya and Osaka areas with the USB data terminal L-02C, which is enabled by Qualcomm's MDM9200 solution.

"We are very pleased that we successfully launched Xi, Japan's first LTE service," said Toshio Miki, Managing Director of the Communication Device Development Department at DOCOMO. "With this successful collaboration with Qualcomm, we look forward to delivering new services and mobile broadband experiences to customers on the Xi network going forward."

"We are very excited to see the successful launch of LTE services in Japan by DOCOMO using our MDM9200 chipset," saidCristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm.  "Qualcomm is very pleased to be part of this important milestone and we look forward to working closely with DOCOMO in their continuing efforts to commercialize their Xi LTE service."

The MDM9200 chipset is the industry's first multi-mode 3G/LTE solutions that allow UMTS operators to upgrade seamlessly to future LTE services while preserving backward compatibility to their existing 3G networks.  The MDM9200 chipset supports UMTS, HSPA+ and LTE.

LTE connections to reach 300million by 2015

LTE to account for 4% of world's mobile connections within five years, says Wireless Intelligence

By Nick Flaherty

LTE networks will account for 4 percent of the world's mobile connections within five years, according to a new report by Wireless Intelligence. The new study, Global LTE network forecasts and assumptions 2010-2015, predicts that global LTE connections will surpass the 1 million mark in the first half of 2011 and will reach 300 million by 2015 as the world's mobile operators ramp-up rollout of the next-generation network technology.

The study forecasts that Asia Pacific will be the world's largest LTE region by 2015, contributing almost half (43 percent) of global LTE connections by this point (see Table 1). China – the world's largest mobile market – is expected to account for around half of the Asia Pacific total. However, LTE network migration will initially be driven by operators in Western Europe and North America, which account for a combined 70 percent of global LTE connections in 2010. This is due to early LTE network rollouts by operators such as TeliaSonera (Europe) and Verizon Wireless (USA). Asia Pacific is expected to become the largest LTE market as migration gathers pace in major markets such as China, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. The Americas and Africa are expected to be the two regions slowest to migrate to LTE, collectively accounting for just 5 percent of global LTE connections by 2015.

"The introduction of LTE networks reflects the move the telecoms industry is making towards delivering cloud-based and converged services, and an improved user experience," said Joss Gillet, Senior Analyst at Wireless Intelligence and author of the report. "Our latest forecasts show that LTE is being adopted by operators across the globe, but the pace of migration will be faster in countries where mobile broadband is on the political agenda and favourable regulatory developments are taking place – especially with regards to spectrum. However, creating a profitable ecosystem around the new networks will take time and it may take a few years for LTE services to live up to the hype."

The study is based on all known LTE deployments scheduled to take place over the next five years (excluding India). It predicts that 19 live LTE networks will be up-and-running across the globe by year-end 2010. These include major commercial LTE launches due later this month from market-leading operators such as NTT Docomo (Japan), Deutsche Telekom (Germany) and Etisalat (UAE). The world's first commercial LTE networks were launched a year ago by TeliaSonera in Sweden (Stockholm) and Norway (Oslo); TeliaSonera has since rolled-out LTE across its Nordic footprint, including in Finland and Denmark. Wireless Intelligence forecasts that global LTE connections will reach 350,000 by year-end 2010.

"Subscriber uptake of LTE is initially being driven by demand for data-centric mobile broadband services, typically accessed via USB dongles and embedded devices for which operators will charge a premium," said Gillet. "We predict that the introduction of voice over LTE (VoLTE) by around 2012 will mark the 'tipping point' for mass-market LTE handset volume shipments, which will accelerate LTE connections growth. However, premium price points and limited availability means that we will see low LTE handset penetration in the short term."

LTE migration will also be dependent on regulators allocating suitable frequency bands, the study says. It highlights three main spectrum scenarios for the deployment of LTE services; the release of IMT extension spectrum in the 2500-2600MHz bands, the release of 'digital dividend' spectrum in the 700-800MHz bands, and the re-farming of existing spectrum.

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Asia Pacific	27%	32%	43%	40%	41%	43%
W. Europe	34%	22%	22%	28%	26%	24%
USA/Canada	36%	37%	27%	22%	20%	18%
E. Europe	1%	4%	3%	3%	4%	5%
Middle East	2%	4%	5%	6%	6%	5%
Americas	0%	1%	1%	2%	3%	4%
Africa	0%	0%	0%	1%	1%	1%

Table 1: Regional share of LTE connections
Source: 'Global LTE network forecasts & assumptions 2010-2015' Wireless Intelligence (December 2010)

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Clearwire chases 4G LTE with trials reaching 70Mbit/s

Initial Tests Expected to Demonstrate Real-World Download Speeds Ranging from 20-70 Mbps, Testing Both FDD LTE and TDD LTE Using Huawei Equipment


Clearwire is acknowledging the global move to |LTE and away from WiMax with plans to conduct 4G LTE technology trials testing multiple coexistence scenarios between LTE and WiMAX radio technologies. The new tests are designed to showcase the capability of Clearwire’s unmatched spectrum holdings and examine a variety of potential future technology combinations that

“Clearwire’s spectrum and all-IP network make us the only service provider in the U.S. able to conduct tests of this nature and on this scale,” said Dr. John Saw, Clearwire’s chief technology officer. “As we have consistently stated, we remain technology agnostic, but WiMAX provides us with unique advantages to meet the needs of our customers today. Ultimately, consumers don’t care about technical acronyms, but they do care about quality and affordable Internet services that work where and when they want, and that's what we're focused on delivering. Part of our technical due diligence at Clearwire is to be prepared to leverage a number of possible opportunities as we future-proof our network, and that’s the goal of these tests.”
The company expects the technical trials to demonstrate that Clearwire’s 4G network can deliver significantly higher performance using LTE technologies than any other operator. Clearwire plans to conduct the tests in collaboration with Huawei Technologies, the same infrastructure provider which deployed the world’s first commercial LTE network in Europe, using the same spectrum band and flexible base station platform that Clearwire utilizes in the United States. In the same vein, Clearwire will also be testing LTE on Samsung Electronics’ common base station platform which it currently uses for its mobile WiMAX deployments. During the trials, Clearwire will collaborate with Beceem, and other partners, to determine the best methods for enabling end-user devices to take advantage of a potential multi-mode WiMAX/LTE network. Other participating vendors for Clearwire’s technical trials are expected to be named at a later date. In addition, due to the global dominance of the 2.5 GHz - 2.6 GHz spectrum band, a number of large wireless operators are expected to participate with Clearwire on these tests. Additional details about those companies are also expected to be disclosed at a later date. The tests will be conducted in the fall and throughout early 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dr. Saw continued, “The 2.5 GHz spectrum band is universally allocated for global 4G deployments, so it has the potential to create one of the world’s most robust ecosystem across billions of devices. We believe this commonality will result in a massive diversity of mobile devices and applications, at comparably low costs, due to unmatched economies-of-scale. In a 4G world, wireless coverage is important, but capacity is king. This capacity is a unique and sustainable advantage for Clearwire, thanks to our all-IP network and unmatched spectrum holdings.”
Test Scenarios
Clearwire expects to conduct tests across three key areas:

• FDD LTE: Clearwire intends to conduct FDD LTE (Frequency Division Duplex) tests using 40 MHz of spectrum, paired in 20 MHz contiguous channels, of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. Clearwire expects to confirm the capability to produce real-world download speeds that range from 20-70 Mbps. This is expected to be significantly faster than the 5-12 Mbps speeds currently envisioned by other LTE deployments in the U.S., which will rely on smaller pairs of 10 Mhz channels or less.
• TDD LTE: Clearwire will concurrently test TDD LTE (Time Division Duplex), in a 20 MHz configuration, which is twice the channel size currently used in its 4G WiMAX deployments.
• WiMAX and LTE: Clearwire will also test WiMAX co-existence with both FDD LTE and TDD LTE to confirm the flexibility of its network and spectrum strength to simultaneously support a wide-range of devices across its all-IP network.

The company also restated its commitment to use WiMAX technology for its current 4G build plan. Since the company expects that a significant number of LTE devices will be available in coming years, Clearwire is conducting technical trials to determine how it could potentially add LTE technology to coexist with WiMAX.

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70% of all Mobile Devices to be Baseband Modem-Enabled by 2014, says In-Stat

Transistion to 4G is slow as 3G dominates connections

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

The transition to 4G communication standards has begun, but the transition will be slow, says In-Stat. One indication of the sluggish pace: While 70% of mobile devices will be baseband-enabled by 2014, only 3.6% of mobile devices with baseband connectivity will be using 4G standards.  This is the case even though existing 3G networks are being stressed by data traffic that is increasing at exponential levels. 
However, this is the natural trend of adoption of new technology - 4G will not take the load off 3G for some time to come, particularly as it will take longer for terminal makers to add 4G rather than 3G. This is clear from the conservative takeup of 3G, and until the 4G networrks are well established there will continue to be the pressure on 3G. This increased connectivity of billions of devices will continue to drive new apps and new business models, and so is critical to track. 

 

“Computing and mobile consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers are integrating baseband modems into their devices at a feverish pace over the next few years,” says Jim McGregor, In-Stat analyst. “Unfortunately, the transition to 4G wireless technologies is not going to keep pace as adoption is challenged by multiple wireless standards, limited spectrum availability, constricting business models, and other market and industry issues.”

 

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• About 2 billion mobile devices out of a total of 2.8 billion will ship with baseband modem technology in 2014.
• Despite the early lead of WiMAX, LTE is expected to account for 61.2% of 4G-enabled mobile devices in 2014.
• Smartphones and computing devices are the only devices expected to transition to 4G technologies over the next five years. Feature-phones and mobile CE devices will remain on 2G/3G networks because of lower performance, cost, and power requirements.

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Sagem Wireless and ST-Ericsson partner on LTE

Launch of commercial multimode LTE/HSPA+ products in 2010

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

 

Sagem Wireless and ST-Ericsson have teamed up to develop multimode LTE/HSPA+ reference designs, devices and modules that can connect to LTE, HSPA+, 3G and GSM networks, to develop a mobile broadband modem to be launched before the end of 2010.

Supporting downlink speeds of up to 100 Mbps via LTE and 21 Mbps via HSPA+, Sagem Wireless' dongle modems will enable Internet Gateways to offer ultra high speed wireless access. These modems will also enable laptops to get online wherever there is mobile coverage, giving end-users a high level of flexibility. 

There are now 61 live commercial HSPA+ networks in 34 countries and 80 mobile operators, spanning 33 countries, are committed to deploying LTE, according to the GSM Association. Sagem Wireless also plans to use the multimode platform to produce versatile modules that can bring high-speed mobile connectivity to laptops, netbooks, tablet computers, machine-to- machine (M2M) applications and other devices.

"Working with ST-Ericsson on LTE will enable Sagem Wireless to be at the forefront of the development of state-of-the-art devices and modules modems that can connect to the world's fastest mobile networks," said Yves Portalier, EVP, Strategic Planning of Sagem Wireless. "ST-Ericsson's single family of platforms will also enable Sagem Wireless to produce a wide range of devices faster and more cost-effectively than if we had to juggle multiple incompatible platforms."

"We have developed our multimode platform to enable people to connect to the best available mobile network wherever they are, whether that be with LTE, HSPA+, 3G or GSM, switching between different access technologies effortlessly and seamlessly," said Pascal Langlois, Senior Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of ST-Ericsson. "The fact that the platform is ready to make its debut in commercial devices in 2010 further underlines ST-Ericsson's strong position in the development of LTE device platforms and Sagem Wireless' system-level and RF integration expertise."

This builds on the March 4 announcement by Sagem Wireless and ST-Ericsson of a strategic partnership to co-operate on the development of a wide range of wireless products, and ST-Ericsson and Ericsson announced in December that they had successfully achieved mobility between LTE and HSPA networks, using a multimode LTE/HSPA device based on ST-Ericsson's platform.

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2bn Mobile Devices with Integrated Baseband Modems by 2014

In-Stat says transition to 4G and LTE has already begun

The road to advance 4G wireless technologies is challenged by a multiple of wireless standards, limited availability of spectrum, constricting business models, as well as a host of other market and industry issues.  In-Stat (www.in-stat.com) reports that the new generation of data-centric mobile devices, such as smartphones, netbooks, and tablets, are already straining existing 3G networks, and despite these market and technical hurdles baseband modem integration into mobile devices will reach 2 billion by 2014.  In-Stat also projects the following:

• The transition to 4G communication standards has begun, albeit slowly, with 3.6% of mobile devices with baseband connectivity expected to be using 4G standards in 2014.  
• Despite the early lead of WiMAX, LTE is expected to account for over 60% of 4G-enabled mobile devices in 2014.
• E-Reader
• Integration of baseband solutions is expected to increase, resulting in an 11.0% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of broadband-enabled mobile devices.
• Smartphones and computing devices are the only devices expected to transition to 4G technologies over the next five years.  Handsets and mobile CE devices will remain on 2G/3G networks because of lower performance, cost, and power requirements.
  

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Top 25 LTE Operators Will Reach Over 200 million LTE Subscribers by 2015

LTE infrastructure CAPEX spending to reach $14 billion in 2015
The top 25 LTE (committed) operators will reach a 3G/UMTS subscriber base of 1,087 million, of which 226.7 million will be served with dual mode 3G/LTE devices in 2015 says the latest research from Maravedis in "The Top 25 LTE Operator Commitments: Deployment Scenarios and Growth Opportunities".

70% of the operators interviewed experienced a 2-fold increase in the traffic traversing their mobile networks in 2009, while 84% of mobile operators around the world will be moving from HSPA/HSPA+ in anticipation of their evolution to LTE, and only 16% of operators will move from CDMA/EVDO.
Many operators will deploy LTE as a data network overlay with fall back to 3G network coverage where LTE is not available. So far, only 40% of the operators interviewed are planning and doing trials for voice over LTE. Maravedis expects this figure to increase as operators near LTE rollout and primarily deployed into unused or newly acquired spectrum bands, including 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz BWA spectrum bands.

• 242,000 accumulated LTE macro base stations will be deployed in 2015, up from 38,906 in 2013.
• Chinese and European carriers will drive the market after 2012
• More than 80% of the top 25 LTE (committed) operators have selected vendors for their LTE trials
• Ericsson, Huawei, and Alcatel-Lucent are the top 3, best positioned vendors for LTE trials and deployment contracts
• Network topology is changing towards smaller cells - 52% of the LTE Committed Operators are planning to deploy eNodeB microcells and picocells
• 57% of operators use just fibre backhaul - 12% use microwave and 31% use a mix of both

DOWNLOAD REPORT BROCHURE

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Frequency Bands for LTE Deployment

Maravedis report looks at the global frequency bands that will limit deployment of LTE

One of the most critical factors for the deployment of LTE is spectrum availability. LTE offers the advantage of spectrum and channel size flexibility. Operators can choose to deploy LTE using digital dividend spectrum (450MHz and 700MHz), 2G spectrum (800MHz and 900MHz), 3G spectrum (1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 1.9-2.1GHz) or the 2.6GHz band (and in the case of Japanese operators the 1.5GHz band is also available).
The Top 25 LTE Operator Commitments Report from analysts Maravedis addresses this and many other factors integral to successful LTE deployments. The majority of the operators own spectrum assets in the 2G and 3G frequency bands and the most common frequency band used for 3G deployment is the 1.9-2.1GHz band. Although the 1.9-2.1GHz band can be used for LTE, most operators will be unable to use this spectrum to support new 4G services given that it is entirely occupied by their current 3G services. Most operators will need to either acquire additional 3G or 2.6GHz spectrum for their 4G deployment.
Maravedis believes that in North America, most LTE deployments will occur in the 700MHz and AWS spectrum (1710-1755 and 2110-2155 MHz). The major mobile operator is Verizon Wireless, who has depths of 22MHz up to 46MHz of 700MHz in major markets across the United States, plus up to 46MHz of the AWS spectrum. Verizon is followed by AT&T, which in the top 100 wireless markets has average spectrum depths of 58-77 MHz of AWS spectrum and 12MHz of spectrum in more than 227 regions. AT&T plans to use their chunk of the 700 MHz spectrum to roll-out LTE and we believe that the carrier might use a chuck of its AWS spectrum as well. T-Mobile has 120 regional AWS spectrum licenses used for 3G deployments, with spectrum depths of up to 54MHz in major markets. AT&T does not yet have spectrum available for 4G, but there are speculations on possible partnerships with T-Mobile and cable operators for additional AWS spectrum, or even with Clearwire to gain access to 4G spectrum resources in the 2.6GHz band. One should not forget, however, that the carrier with the largest spectrum assets is Clearwire with up to 120MHz of spectrum in the 2.6GHz band across the top 100 US markets . Once Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile launch their LTE networks, they will be competing against “CLEAR”  Clearwire’s WiMAX 4G network. Although Clearwire is likely to continue deploying WiMAX for a while, they have stated several times that they could move to LTE at anytime if needed.
In Europe, most LTE deployments will take place in the 2.6GHz band; however this spectrum has yet to be allocated in most countries. Although a number of European operators have announced their commitment to LTE and even an expected launch date, the real deployment date will highly depend on the allocation of this spectrum. Auctions of the 2.6GHz band have taken place in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Countries with pending 3G and 2.6GHz auctions include UK, Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Other countries such as Austria are waiting for 2G spectrum refarming to be used for 3G services. Teliasonera Sweden, Teliasonera Norway, Tele2 and Telenor already own 40MHz of spectrum respectively in the 2.6GHz band.
In Asia Pacific, operators will be using a wide range of frequency bands for LTE deployments, including 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.5GHz, 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz and even 2.6GHz. Some operators are also waiting for spectrum auctions to continue their technology evolution roadmap. In countries such as Hong Kong and Australia, the 2.6GHz band will be the most preferred for LTE deployments, but there is also some room for deployments in the digital dividend band (700MHz) currently used for broadcasting services but that can be freed for mobile services in the future.
Maravedis believse that spectrum availability is a major hurdle operators are facing to continue their technology evolution roadmap. Spectrum allocation - more than any other factor - will dictate the deployment launch date of most LTE networks; this will be particularly true in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, where spectrum auctions are underway.

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Verizon Wireless 4G handset to be out next year

Verizon Wireless 4G handset to be out next year

The name Nokia was whispered to be the hardware supplier for Verizon Wireless' maiden 4G handset which is tipped to debut sometime in the middle of next year, where it runs on the LTE network which will roll out at the end of this year after trials at both Boston and Seattle. According to the Wall Street Journal, this first LTE handset will rely on dual chipsets to make them compaible with the current CDMA networks.

 This is six months earlier than predicted for 4G handsets (see Maravedis analysis below).

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Mobile WiMAX chipset shipments surge but the numbers don't look good

Number of LTE chipsets booming but face problems

Despite shipments of mobile WiMAX chipsets booming last year, the overall picture for the technology does not look good as LTE catches up.
Mobile WiMax chipset shipments reached just 5 million last year, up from 1.3 million in 2008, according to the first issue of the 4Ggear Quarterly Report from Maravedis.This is not enough to boost the market, and while chip shipments grew, the infrastructure was flat, indicating limited roll out.

"Despite the surge of mobile WiMAX device and chipset shipments, notably in Q4 09, the total WiMAX equipment market remained flat last year at US$1.36 billion," said Maravedis Research Director Adlane Fellah. "The overall picture is mixed. Shipments of base stations decreased in 2009 and were impacted more deeply by the economic downturn, whereas device shipments, especially mobile WIMAX devices, grew at a rate of 147% Year-over-Year compared to 2008, correlating to the addition of a 3.5 million WIMAX subscribers during the year," he continued.

"Surprisingly, there are already many players in the LTE base-band chipset landscape. However early LTE chipset suppliers may not be the long term winners in the dual-mode 3G/4G chipset market," said Pascal Deriot, co-author of the report and 4Ggear team leader. "While LTE incumbent providers focus on sampling dual-mode chipsets, new entrants position themselves as technology drivers, delivering early LTE-only solutions."

 

Maravedis believes that the development of the LTE modem itself is not the most complex aspect of the global LTE picture. "Interoperability, seamless hand over, architecture expertise and management of the different bands across the world may be the most challenging obstacles facing LTE chipset suppliers," added Deriot.
 
The report confirms that both WiMAX and LTE are converging upon 4G service capabilities. LTE's primary market, incumbent 3G operators, will be unlikely to significantly deploy LTE sooner than early 2012.

• The total combined WiMAX market size in 2009 was US$1.36 billion compared to US$1.34 billion in 2008.
• Indoor modems represented 48% of WiMAX units shipped in 2009 as, by USB dongles and PC cards at 43%.
• Beceem, Sequans and GCT account for almost 90% of the total mobile WiMAX chipset market.
• LTE infrastructure benefits from WiMAX technology and product development, speeding its time-to-market and allowing for a cleaner interoperability and conversion between and from WiMAX to LTE.
• On the WiMAX chipset front, Maravedis has observed a shift to the LTE technology; Beceem, Sequans, Altair, Comsys and Wavesat have announced LTE chipset. Some of them have been sampled (Altair, Comsys, and Wavesat) others will follow in Q210 (Sequans) and Q410 (Beceem).

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3G struggles as LTE approaches

Despite the buzz about LTE, only 11% of total cellular subscriptions worldwide are even using 3G technology, according to a new report from market research and consultancy In-Stat. However, by 2013, the percentage will rise to 28% but in the meantime the next technology, LTE, is moving beyond talk and into real contract awards.
HSPA is the main beneficiary of the drive to 3G as it leads both new deployments and contract awards so far in 2009. Ericsson and Huawei led the infrastructure providers in new contract awards for HSPA. The new, high profile contract awards in 3G included China Unicom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica.

“The roll-out of 3G worldwide is important, but the story of the day is LTE becoming a reality,” says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. “LTE contracts have been awarded in Japan, Singapore, United States, Norway, and Sweden. Infrastructure leaders are far from decided; however, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Huawei are the early beneficiaries of the early LTE contract awards.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
- During 1Q09, there were 9 WiMAX 802.16e networks deployed worldwide,
mainly in Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe.
- 2G is far from dead. There were new contract awards for 2G
infrastructure in 1Q2009.

MPEG LA eyes up LTE patents

Patent pool expert MPEG LA says it is making significant progress working with a group of interested companies to create a joint patent pool license for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Standard for mobile telecommunications. It is calling for interested parties, both with patents and patent applications, to be part of the pool.
MPEG LA’s efforts, started last year, have been directed toward educating the market about the benefits of a pool license to address the patent thicket around this next generation wireless technology and assist the market with its adoption. A fight or uncertainty over the patent situation would dramatically slow the adoption of the the technology, as happened with high definition video and the AVC patents.
“The market is ready, and we are proud that industry leading companies have invited us to facilitate creation of an LTE pool license,” said MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn.

“Given the history of telecommunications patent pools, MPEG LA has taken the time to consult directly with mobile network operators, network equipment manufacturers and mobile handset companies regarding the benefits of a patent pool for LTE, and they have encouraged MPEG LA to move forward with this effort. Next generation wireless technology, with its multifunctional capabilities, begs for a patent pool licensing alternative to make its full potential available to consumers worldwide, and MPEG LA’s success in creating large pool licenses uniquely positions us to achieve it.”

MPEG LA would like as many essential patent holders as possible to be included in this process. Therefore, MPEG LA invites any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the LTE Standard to submit them by June 19, 2009 for evaluation of their essentiality by MPEG LA’s patent evaluators in order to participate in the creation of a joint LTE patent license.
Although only issued patents will be included in the license, in order to participate in the license development process, patent applications with claims that their owners believe are essential to the LTE Standard and likely to issue in a patent also may be submitted.
A key point is that, although the process will begin with LTE, it may be expanded at a later stage to provide coverage for backward compatibility with other mobile
telecommunications technologies.
http://www.mpegla.com/pid/lte.

Hong Kong launches 21Mbit/s mobile network

In a move that starts to make portable multimedia services viable, Hong Kong operator CSL has launched a mobile network using the HSPA+ protocol that will provide downloads at speeds up to 21Mbit/s.
The all-IP network uses software defined radio (SDR) to make it flexible to upgrade and cost effective to roll out, as the demand for high bandwidth mobile services will be slower to take off.
Developed by CSL and Chinese infrastructure provider ZTE in stages since the network project begun construction in March last year, the network will be up and running in the next couple of days. The Next G network will provide revolutionary mobile multimedia services that offer unparalleled usability and functionality, says CSL, a subsidiary of Australian operator, Telstra.

Motorola Launches LTE Trial Network in the UK

Motorola has launched its next generation LTE trial network and testing lab in Swindon, UK.
The launch at the development labs was marked with a live, over the air, standards compliant LTE call during which high-speed data services were streamed using Motorola's LTE infrastructure operating in the 2.6GHz spectrum and a prototype LTE device.
This facilities offers operators the ability to engage in LTE technology field trials and detailed real-world equipment testing at the UK site. Additionally, Motorola can host the core elements of the LTE network for operators that require a hosted LTE trial in EMEA. The network and trial activity is fully supported by Motorola services, giving operators access to Motorola's expertise in deploying and optimizing OFDM-based mobile broadband networks as well as developing 4G migration strategies.
"Motorola is at the forefront of 4G development which will address the mobility demands of today's consumers who are looking for personalized media experiences and operators looking to lower their cost per bit and gain a competitive advantage," said Joe Cozzolino, senior vice president and general manager, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility, EMEA & Asia Pacific. "With our latest trial network we look forward to working closely with our customers in EMEA as they transition to LTE during 2009 and beyond."
Within its LTE lab in Swindon, UK, Motorola engineers work on LTE radio frequency and self organising network (SON) development. In addition, the site in Swindon remains a centre of excellence for Motorola base station transceiver (BTS) development for GSM and now LTE. Development of Motorola's LTE solutions is also conducted in Arlington Heights, Illinois; Fort Worth, Texas; Beijing, China and Bangalore, India.
Motorola's first commercial release of LTE solutions later this year will include products for the 700MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum bands and the company is engaged with operators in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region for LTE field trial activity.
LTE demo video is here

www.motorola.com/lte and www.motorola.com/experiencelte

UMPC Makers told to add WiMAX or 3G Cellular

Ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) manufacturers need to add support for wide-area wireless networks in order for the devices to fulfill their full market potential, reports US market researchers In-Stat. Embedding a wide-area wireless modem into devices addresses the frustration many users have with the spotty coverage of Wi-Fi, the high-tech market research firm says. However, supporting the multiple cellular protocols is difficult and costly.
“The challenge is which of the broadband options: WiMAX, EV-DO, HSPA, or LTE, will be most successful in a UMPC,” says Frank Dickson, Vice President, Mobile Internet group. “Each has pros and cons. There is no ‘best’ wide-area wireless technology.”

Recent research by In-Stat found:

- UMPCs will increasingly add support for wide-area wireless to
supplement Wi-Fi. The connect rate for wide-area wireless will grow
from 20% today to almost 50% by 2012.
- In-Stat’s end-user survey revealed that 44% of notebook PC users
express frustration with coverage when using Wi-Fi, compared with just
15% using a cellular broadband service.
- Competitors are experimenting with business models and subsidies.
AT&T Mobility and RadioShack recently initiated a consumer offer for a
subsidized Acer Aspire UMPC coupled with a broadband service plan.

This has been evident in the UK with laptops being given away with 3G broadband monthly service packages.