LTE trials completed in 800MHz and 1.8GHz

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LTE trials completed in 800MHz and 1.8GHz

Clearwire extends WiMAX to 10 further cities

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 2 July, 2010

It is LTE's strength and also its weakness that it is targeted at so many spectrum bands, supporting flexible operator plans but also fragmenting the early ecosystem. While the first commercial roll-outs are in the key 700MHz and 2.6GHz bands, many others will come into play, and the vendors are racing to prove their credentials across the spectrum. The latest milestones are claimed by Nokia Siemens, in the 800MHz band, and Huawei in 1.8GHz.

In 800MHz - the digital dividend frequency area in many regions - Nokia Siemens has worked with co-parent Nokia to claim the first LTE call in this band. The companies said in a statement: "The successful interoperability tests mark a decisive step forward in the commercialization of LTE on this band, particularly hastening deployment in rural areas."

The end-to-end tests were conducted at NSN's LTE Center of Competence in Espoo, Finland, using its LTE-ready Flexi base stations, which are also available for 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz. The test also used Nokia's multimode, multiband RD-3 Internet Modem.

"These tests are part of a larger campaign which includes various customer trials and demonstrations to make LTE on 800MHz commercially viable by this summer," said NSN's head of LTE business, Reino Tammela. The first commercial networks in this band are likely to be in Germany, which recently auctioned licenses in several frequencies including digital dividend, targeting better rural broadband coverage.

Meanwhile, Huawei has joined with Australian incumbent Telstra for the country's first demonstration of LTE in 1.8GHz GSM spectrum. Although Telstra's hugely advanced HSPA+ program means it is unlikely to adopt LTE on a broad basis for some years, it is conducting extensive tests, particularly with rural services in mind. COO Michael Rocca said that exploring LTE's performance across a variety of bands was critical. "Our trials with Huawei are giving us valuable insights into the potential of LTE technology at 1800MHz and helping Telstra understand how we can make best use of both existing and potential future spectrum assets to continue to deliver a world class mobile broadband service," he said in a statement.

The trials are taking place in Victoria and include evaluation of MIMO throughput, of Inter Cell Interference Coordination to reduce network noise, and of self-organizing network technology.

Over with the commercially available 4G system, WiMAX, Clearwire says it now covers 51m POPs, having switched on its services in 10 new markets this week. It is now live in 44 cities and towns. The new additions are Salt Lake City, St Louis and Richmond, Virginia plus the smaller markets of Eugene, Oregon; Merced and Visalia, California; Yakima and Tri-Cities, Washington; and Rochester and Syracuse, New York. Seven more markets will follow over the next two months, including Nashville, Tennessee, and by the end of the year, Clearwire aims to be in at least 60 centers, covering 120m POPs, These will include the major conurbations of New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.