LTE-Advanced, the next step up in 4G service, could see roll out this year.
Excuse my drool, there.
With the 4G spectrum auction finally under way, the UK should soon see the roll out of 4G services from several operators – Ofcom estimates by late spring or summer this year. 4G should see typical download speeds of, on average, 6Mbit/s.
But its successor, LTE-A (LTE Advanced), which could hypothetically offer peak data rates of 3 Gbps could be close on 4G’s heels, meaning HD streaming and online gaming on a mobile would be feasible.
LTE device testing company Anite products director Paul Beaver believes mobile operators will be able to deliver the equivalent of ‘fibre to your phone’, but that actually achieving peak data rates over a mobile network was one of the industry’s biggest challenges.
How would it work?
These higher data rates and sessions require technology that enables higher bandwidths through the use of radio resource sharing via multiple carriers, transmitted and received via multiple antennas in both base stations and devices.
In the devices, this technology would use up to four antenna to improve peak data rates, and this need for multiple antenna in a device could lead to changes in the design of wireless devices and new categories of device, and wireless technology applications, Mr Beaver said.
“Indeed, the development of design innovations for form factors that house four antennas is already underway.”
The technology needed for wider transmission bandwidth would result in a more complicated system for LTE-A than for 4G, he said.
“If LTE-A is going to deliver on the promise of peak data rates equivalent to fixed line broadband, operators, chipset manufacturers, device vendors and the test industry need to collaborate to ensure the ecosystem works together to achieve the successful introduction of this new technology.”
Mr Beaver said the industry would need to perform rigorous testing to ensure market readiness of LTE-A devices, but savings could be made by measuring performance in lab-based testing, which required no actual network.
When?! When, I ask you?!
There is, alas, no concrete answer, Mr Beaver said.
Taking 3GPP (the technical specifications for a 3G mobile system) releases as a guide, Mr Beaver said there was typically a development period of around two to three ears, from finalisation of a release of technical specs to the first network trials and deployments. Mr Beaver said it was likely a limited amount of LTE-A features would be rolled out early this year, but that the wider industry estimated an upgrade migration was likely to start in mid-2013, with the first LTE-A enabled handset produced.
“Beyond this, LTE-A is likely to continue rolling out in earnest throughout 2014/15 and beyond.”
Let me hear your LTE-A enabled devices ringing out
With up to eight antenna required in a base station, it sounds like the deployment of LTE-A would require some network infrastructure alterations. Given the delay in getting 4G out, just when LTE-A services are deployed, and on offer, remains to be seen.
But this technology is already in the global market. In October last year, Russian network operator YOTO Networks and Huawei deployed the world’s first commercial LTE-A network in Moscow.
