Verizon and Japanese cellcos approach LTE at breakneck speed
Published: 8 May, 2009
READ MORE: Verizon | LTE | Japan
Continued ...
The phasing out of EV-DO will balance out investment in LTE, said Melone, so capex totals should not increase significantly from its current level of 10% of revenues. "EV-DO would have a much shorter lifespan as we migrate data traffic to the LTE network," he said. He also said that it was unlikely a third RAN supplier would join Ericsson and ALU, at least if those two live up to expectations; and criticized the network outsourcing approach that many cellcos, including CDMA rival Sprint, are adopting. "I would be hypocritical if I said our network is the inherent strength we bring to our customers and then suggest we outsource," Melone said.
Meanwhile, a research note from UBS suggests that AT&T has shortlisted the same two vendors as Verizon, plus Huawei, to carry out LTE trials on its behalf. AT&T is not expected to start LTE roll-out until 2010 or 2011, after it completes its current HSPA upgrades and in parallel with a move to advanced HSPA+. For Huawei, even being mentioned in an unconfirmed report as a triallist is a coup, given the obstacles it has encountered - as a Chinese and as a relatively unproven vendor - in getting into tier one of the US operators.
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