The Wireless Blog from Unwired Insight discusses the latest developments in wireless networks and services, including the new technologies and architectures of LTE-Advanced and 5G. For expert advice on 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile systems and standards, including GSM, UMTS, LTE, LTE-Advanced and 5G-NR, please contact us.
Since I wrote my previous post on the capabilities of HSPA+, LTE and LTE-Advanced, SK Telecom has announced the world’s first end-to-end commercial implementation of LTE-Advanced. Other network operators, including Verizon, AT&T and NTT DoCoMo, have announced plans, trials and network implementations of LTE-Advanced, but SK Telecom is the first to offer a commercial service with mobile… Read more
I am often asked for facts and figures on current wireless technologies such as Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced, so I thought it would be worth capturing some of these in this blog post. There have been dramatic advances in both HSPA+ and LTE since their first arrival… Read more
Last week I was interviewed for a forthcoming report on mobile network sharing and it prompted me to catch up on the latest 3GPP developments in this area. As network sharing becomes widespread in the mobile industry, a range of new capabilities are under development in 3GPP. These will provide network operators with much greater… Read more
In the first few months of 2013 there have been signs that LTE Carrier Aggregation (CA) is coming to fruition, with a series of announcements of demonstrations, trials and launch plans by network operators and equipment manufacturers. Here are some examples: Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Sierra Wireless provided the first public demonstration of LTE Carrier Aggregation at Mobile… Read more
The latest “Evolution to LTE Report” from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) includes, among other things, a (very short) list of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) launches around the world. Over two years ago I expressed my concern at the lack of long term solutions for voice over LTE. While the situation is gradually becoming clearer, there is… Read more
One of the major themes of 3GPP Release 12 (due for completion in 2014) is enhanced support for small cells in LTE. With mobile network traffic expected to increase dramatically over the coming years, the ability to reuse spectrum many times in dense usage areas will make small cells crucial. In a previous post on… Read more
At this month’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2013) in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless announced plans to launch a video broadcast service based on eMBMS, the LTE variant of the 3GPP Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS). Amid reports that a number of network operators are considering eMBMS, Verizon took the opportunity of CES to demonstrate… Read more
NTT DoCoMo has announced that it will launch the world’s first combined HSDPA/LTE femtocells in December 2012, to enable improved indoor coverage for both 3G and 4G mobile handsets. Shops and offices will be able to offer high quality 3G and 4G coverage and users will be able to drop back to slower HSDPA services… Read more
Earlier this month, Russian network operator Yota reported it had launched the world’s first commercial LTE-Advanced network, using equipment supplied by Huawei. The network comprises 13 base stations in Moscow and Yota has reported downlink data at up to 300Mbit/s. However, Yota has admitted that it will not have terminals available until 2013 and the… Read more
Working in the UK, where commercial LTE services are still not available, it is easy to forget that standardisation of LTE has been underway for many years. The first 3GPP standards were frozen way back in 2008, in 3GPP Release 8, and no fewer than five 3GPP releases containing LTE aspects have now received attention… Read more
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