Efforts to improve energy efficiency in cellular have focussed mostly on the electrical efficiency of modules such as the power amplifiers or the cooling. But the higher level network design has largely escaped attention until recently. Simon Tonks, expert in Communications and Electronic Systems at PA Consulting Group, investigates.
The European Commission has agreed technical rules for how the opening up of spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands should take place. The rules are designed to avoid interference between 4G and existing 3G and GSM devices and, according to the Commission, must be implemented by member states before the end of this year.
The rules put in place a mechanism for the adoption of technical harmonisation rules that will allow GSM bands to be made available for LTE and WiMAX systems. Under EU telecoms regulations, member states have already had to examine competition between operators and address “any distortions of competition.”
Early testing on TeliSonera’s LTE network in Finland saw maximum download speeds hitting 48Mbps with an average of 36.1Mbps. This compared with average 3G speeds of 4.1Mbps. Meanwhile LTE network latency averaged 23ms, some five times faster than the average 3G latency of 117ms.
Denis Gautheret, vice president for NGMN introduction at Deutsche Telekom’s domestic operation, talks to Mike Hibberd about the deployment of LTE in Germany, where carriers are required to provide coverage to rural areas before they’re allowed to roll out in the more lucrative cities. The strength of the ecosystem is all-important, he says, and much progress has been made since the first days of UMTS ten years ago.
Bengt Nordstrom, CEO of consultancy Northstream, talks to telecoms.com about the lack of value offered by spectrum auctions and the resultant “tax on mobile communications.”
Alcatel-Lucent is to partner with China Mobile on what it says is the world’s largest 4G TD-LTE trial network. The trial, which will cover six major Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing, follows the successful completion of interoperability tests which began in January 2010.
O2 has staked its claim to be the first UK operator to switch on a 3G network over 900MHz spectrum in London. Taking advantage of recent licensing changes, this latest rollout in London follows on the heels of similar deployments in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester; the London deployment is expected to deliver a 50 per cent increase in capacity and a 30 per cent increase in speed.
South Africa’s third mobile carrier, Cell C, has announced that it will begin rolling out its 42Mbps HSPA+ service in early April. Following through on plans that were announced in October 2010, the operator is adopting a phased rollout strategy, beginning with Port Elizabeth, where the high speed service will use ZTE modems.
Sweden’s Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) has announced that it raised $323.7m through its latest spectrum auction. Following five days and 31 rounds of online bidding, TeliaSonera, HI3G Access, and Net4Mobility (a joint venture between Tele2 and Telenor) all secured licenses in the 800MHz “digital dividend” band.
Telstra has defended its decision to withdraw from Hong Kong’s spectrum auction. The firm said that “bids were destroying value” and that it had only participated in “an opportunistic way” because it already owns significant spectrum and would therefore “retain leadership no matter what the outcome of the auction could be.”
During the final day of my trip to Barcelona for MWC, I was treated to a bus ride. Not just any bus ride though. This was a bus loaded with tech kit, hooked up to a couple of prototype dongles and connected to the FDD and TDD flavours of LTE radio. The reason was a field demonstration of LTE’s capabilities, set up by Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei, Vodafone and China Mobile.
German mobile operator E-Plus is to undertake a trial of TD-LTE technology, supported by the world’s largest mobile operator, China Mobile. Chinese vendor ZTE will supply the infrastructure for the trial, which will use 2.6GHz spectrum acquired by E-Plus in spectrum auctions that concluded in May 2010.
Infrastructure vendor Ericsson has announced the launch of its antenna integrated radio solution (AIR), a new network configuration that sees the antenna element of a base station integrated into the radio unit.
Japan’s leading carrier, NTT DoCoMo, said Monday that it is gearing up to test LTE Advanced with an eye to racking up speeds of 1Gbps on the downlink.
Meeting 5G's great expectations. The 5G use cases stretch across the consumer and business world, but it's the busi hhttps://t.co/HOWdTsi6L7
30 November 2021 @ 17:06:08 UTC
Global 5G subscriptions to hit 660 million this year - Ericsson. Swedish kit vendor Ericsson has published its late hhttps://t.co/qMOLh9Ffzl
30 November 2021 @ 13:03:14 UTC
The @telecoms podcast returns this week with @ericsson, @OrangeGroupPR and eco masts. Watch or listen to the full e hhttps://t.co/Ef9H8mO6ec
29 November 2021 @ 15:11:12 UTC
Loading ...