LTE group eyes standards for voice delivery

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LTE group eyes standards for voice delivery

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 6 March, 2009

READ MORE: LTE

The LTE community is seeking to rebuild some of its PR momentum, which has faded somewhat as operators have pushed back launch plans to 2011 or beyond and focused their efforts on extending the life of HSPA or EV-DO. New figures from the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) say that 26 carriers are now committed to LTE, while Nokia has, unsurprisingly, come out with new statements of support for a platform it hopes to dominate, and which it hopes will give it its first serious presence in the US market.

In an initiative that is more solid than the predictable pledges of support, T-Mobile and a group of vendors have formed a new group focused on voice over LTE, according to Unstrung. This will officially launch on Monday, and will be called the VoLGA (Voice over LTE via Generic Access) Forum.

T-Mobile's leading role shows how determined the operators are to direct and influence the progress of standards, rather than leaving it to the vendors, and the German-owned cellco has stolen a march here on the rivals that usually drive the agenda - Vodafone, Verizon and China Mobile. Other founders are the main equipment makers - Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Nortel, Samsung and ZTE (though no Nokia or Nokia Siemens) - plus Kineto Wireless and Starent.

Since LTE is fully IP-based, it will not support circuit switched voice, but the new group aims to define a set of specifications to deliver circuit switched voice and messaging over LTE, using the Generic Access Network (GAN) standard. These will then be submitted to the 3GPP. VoLGA could be an alternative, or complement, to using IP Multimedia Subsystem to deliver traditional voice, and there is also an approach that uses a circuit switched tunnel. Most vendors want a single method to be selected to reduce costs and complexity.

Meanwhile, though absent from VoLGA so far, Nokia has reaffirmed its promise to have LTE devices next year, presumably to get an early foothold in the formerly closed stronghold of Verizon, which wants to go live with LTE by year end. Nokia is working with new partner Qualcomm on LTE products for north America. James Harper, senior manager of technology marketing, promised the 2010 debut of devices, but did not give details of what they would look like. LG has also promised devices next year.

North America looks set to be an early stronghold for LTE, as the country looks to take an uncharacteristic lead in new mobile networks, and as CDMA carriers seek to move into the mainstream (and mass economics) of the GSM family of technologies. Early movers in the region promise to be Verizon, MetroPCS and CenturyTel in the US, and Rogers, Telus and Bell Canada north of the border. Most European majors are being more cautious on timing, with only TeliaSonera in Scandinavia publicly committed to a 2010 deployment, while NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in Japan make up the rest of the GSA top 10. A further 16 operators have confirmed launch plans after 2010, says the Association.