LTE: More restrained this year, but equally impressive

So whats happening with LTE.  Last year, everywhere you turned you would hear a new announcement about an upcoming LTE deployment.   But for the first half of this year the LTE news has been a lot more restrained.  This isn’t due to the fact that nothing is happening – far from it.  According to the GSMA there are now 88 operators in 42 countries (liberally sprinkled across Americas, Europe,Africa, Middle East and Asia) that have now committed to deploy LTE Systems or are engaged in trials or other preparatory activities. This is a major step forward compared to 31 network commitments identified by GSMA in a similar study 12 months ago.

The current forecast is that up to 22 LTE networks will be in commercial service by the end of 2010, and it is expected that this figure will grow to 39 or more LTE networks commercially launched by the end of 2012.  One of the major ones to launch this year will be Verizon Wireless.  I read recently that Verizon expects the first launch to not include voice, but to be focused on air-cards, datasticks and MiFi type devices.  That’s probably understandable, as there are a lot of additional challenges to sort out to deliver voice services compared to just opening up a big data pipe.

One of the other interesting recent developments is that the TD version of LTE (TD-LTE) is beginning to spread itswings beyond China.  It appears that it may well become the LTEversion of choice in India and in Japan if Qualcomm and Softbank get their way.

The TM Forums new technology interface initiative is focused on developing the core management interfaces for the next generation of communications technology.  As with everything the TM Forum does, the core business process and information frameworks of the Forum will act as the foundations of these new interfaces.  While the initiative’s scope is much wider than LTE, it is fair to say that LTE is the first major new candidate that is being addressed.  We are working with a number of leading mobile service providers including T-Mobile & Vodafone to understand the requirements for these interfaces and in parallel working with industry bodies such as 3GPP and NGMN to ensure that the whole industry adopts a consistent approach to the management challenges.

If you want to learn more about this initiative or get involved drop me a comment or click here.