Vodafone CEO urges industry to rally around LTE
Late last year, we were still wondering whether LTE even had the backing to keep up with WiMAX. Fast forward to CTIA 2008, and my, how the tables have turned. Vodafone, which already teamed up with Verizon in order to initiate an LTE trial in 2008, urged the rest of the wireless sector to put its support squarely behind Long Term Evolution. Vodafone Group's CEO, Arun Sarin, suggested that we could all see mobile internet speeds more similar to those enjoyed on the PC today if the industry "rallied around one broadband standard," specifically noting that "we need to look at LTE as an all-encompassing standard." The push comes hot on the heels of Sprint's unfortunate delay of its XOHM WiMAX network, but it should be noted that infrastructure vendors in attendance tended to feel that the two would coexist at least in the short term. Sheesh, let's just forget this whole LTE / WiMAX spat and place our bets on TD-SCDMA.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
superfresh @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:04AM
Good. I've been jonesing for another industry-stalling format war.
Big Al @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:17AM
Poor UMB. It wasn't too long ago that they were mentioned as a 3rd option.
Broadband Guy @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:29AM
Mobile WiMax won't be going anywhere. Unlike LTE which is still a work in progress not ready to go operational until 2010, Mobile WiMax is a fully mature and operational technology that will be inside almost all new Centrino laptops in a couple of years just like WiFi. Intel's dominance in laptop market guarantees that there will be millions of ready-made Mobile WiMax users for Sprint.
Rich @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:05AM
Take a look at the companies behind LTE. It's a juggernaut. Even Verizon Wireless is ditching Qualcomm to get behind it.
Chris G. @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:05AM
Assuming LTE is used by every carrier, in theory that means that someone could roam on any cell phone network?
I am all for that. Enough with this GSM/CDMA war. If you are in range of a cell phone tower, you should be allowed to use it.
John Stracke @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:26PM
Only if your device had the same frequencies as the network you were roaming on. Think of AT&T versus T-Mobile UMTS.
contreras @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:46AM
Both WiMAX and LTE are not 4G yet. WiMAX meanwhile has been accepted as a 3G technology, and I don't think this will change anyway.
The big issue here is network evolution. WiMAX was developed by the WiMAX forum with many big players, but the outcome is not certified yet, and there is no info about interworking with GSM, CDMA, wi-fi (at least not standarized solutions is defined yet). While LTE is being included in Rel8 from 3GPP, which means it will interwork since the start with GSM, UMTS, HSDPA and HSUPA. Even providers are offering 3G sites that are LTE capable, which means that the evolution will be SW based.
Also, LTE supports small bandwidths, like 1.2MHz, which allows to start deploying it in any frequency easily, while WiMAX needs a bigger bandwidht (3.5MHz) and is currently standarized only in 2.5 and 3.5GHz bands, which are a nightmare for indoor coverage.
WiMAX will stay, but for "fixed" services. LTE will be the mobile network we will all be using in 3-4 years. Either as 4G or not.