A Primer on LTE – link on wikipedia

Our post on “A Primer on LTE” is now referenced on wikipedia on the main LTE page :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Term_Evolution

Let us know your feedback. Thanks for the excellent feedback on a similar post on ”Primer on WiMAX“ and referenced on wikipedia on the main WiMAX page.

A Primer on LTE

LTE or Long Term Evolution is a 4G wireless technology and is considered the next in line in the GSM evolution path after UMTS/HSPDA 3G technologies. LTE is espoused and standardized via the 3GPP or 3rd Generation Partnership Project members. 3GPP is a global telecommunications consortium having members in most GSM dominant countries. 3GPP specifications are based on GSM evolution path of wireless communications. GSM is the most prevalent wireless standard in the world and has maximum number of subscribers globally.

The impact of LTE is so big that even powerful carriers which were on the alternate CDMA path like Verizon Wireless of United States, have decided to go with LTE in their next generation 4G evolution. Firms like Verizon and MetroPCS of USA have all but dumped the CDMA technology path almost dealing a blow to the CDMA owner Qualcomm, although the latter is much more diversified so it is not really short of business models.

LTE vs WiMAX
Whereas WiMAX emerged from the WiFi IP paradigm, LTE is a result of the classic GSM technology path. LTE is behind in the race to 4G with WiMAX getting an early lead with the likes of Sprint ClearWire and several operators in Asia opting to go with WiMAX in the near term. So where WiMAX has a speed to market advantage, LTE has massive adoption and GSM parenthood to back it up.

It is widely believed by market analysts that LTE will win ultimately but WiMAX will find adoption in frontrunner communities and niche business models which tend to take up technology faster. WiMAX vendors will have you believe that speed to market is too important to ignore. History suggests otherwise in case of wireless industry. It is also believed that ultimately, wireless industry will figure out a way to wed the two 4G technologies so the end product in few years might be a nice amalgam.

So ultimately, what standard an operator uses might be a moot point in the long run. The inter-operability would be just too great to get hung up on the wireless standard. The fact that both WiMAX and LTE are all-IP means that a cross-connection will be a piece of cake at some point in future.

In terms of speed, Fixed WiMAX lacks LTE in speed but Mobile WiMAX may catch up with LTE on this front. For an overview on WiMAX, refer to our post “A Primer on WiMAX“.

LTE Technology
LTE builds on 3GPP family which includes GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) etc. LTE is an all-IP standard like its peer WiMAX. LTE allows for rich applications and business models which include ultra-high speed voice, video and data. It also enables integration with the classic internet infrastructure which is all-IP based.

HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), the 3G GSM standard popular over near-term, offers uplink speeds of 11.5 MBPS and downlink of 28 MBPS. Whereas LTE offers 75-100 MBPS Uplink speeds and 250-300 MBPS downlink speeds. Compare this with 20 MBPS U-verse speeds of AT&T wired broadband network U-verse and 50 MBPS speeds in Verizon FIOS TV service. In a nutshell, LTE will beat the fastest wired broadband delivery High Def TV today (in USA) by order of 1 to 4 or 1 to 2 depending on which wired broadband we are talking about. That said, many carriers like AT&T believe that HSPA and its faster cousin HSPA+ will compare well with early WiMAX speeds and so there is no rush to LTE yet for these kind of carriers.

Some key characteristics of LTE are described below :

• Increased Data Rates and High Efficiency : LTE is based on OFDM Radio Access technology and MIMO antenna technology (just like its cousin WiMAX) which offer excellent modulation technique for achieving powerful spectral efficiency.  Think of the OFDM wireless spectrum as a series of very fine and narrow wireless  bands and each band gets allocated to various service providers.  LTE offers higher data transmission rates while utilizing the spectrum more efficiently. This translates to an ability to support many more multitude of subscribers than is possible with pre-4G spectral frequencies. LTE is 2 to 5 times more efficient in spectrum utilization than the most advanced 3G networks.
• Radio Planning : LTE signal goes far and wide and covers a larger geographic territory. LTE signal is way faster than the existing wireless transmission resulting in higher user response times.
• IP environment : LTE is all-IP which permits new enhanced applications like real time voice, video, gaming, social networking and location-based services.  The concept of wireless ubiquity comes alive with LTE processor chips in everything from netbooks to mobile phones to consumer devices; all these devices talk to each other seamlessly and effortlessly.
• Inter-operability : LTE IP network co-operates with circuit-switched legacy networks resulting in a seamless network environment and signals are exchanged between traditional networks, the new 4G network and the IP-based internet seamlessly.

LTE Applications
LTE will enable applications previously unheard of. Wireless ubiquity is a given. All consumer devices. communication and computing resources may be enabled on the wireless network courtesy of chipmakers like Intel who are eagerly building in WiMAX and LTE in future chipsets which will be embedded in all sorts of technology devices that one can imagine.  Social Networking and human-technology interaction (HTI) will take on a new meaning. Human-technology interface and resultant communication could be as seamless and as effortless as the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report makes it out to be (ok we are bragging a bit now).

Web 4.0, if you will, may just comprise the Wireless as an integral element of the hyper-connected world via LTE and WiMAX enablement.  Broadband TV might not need wired cables anymore and new MVNO service providers may emerge who enable wirelessly driven TV and broadband internet. Business users might exchange massive amounts of data while on the go at the flick of a button (or touch). Interacting with your Flickr and Picasas photo streams from mobile devices might be a breeze. Games will cross wired / wireless domains and mobile location will figure in the gaming context naturally. Location-based may take a new meaning with location being the true IP beacon determining the application context in a flash, thereby offering a ultra-personalized mobile experience to the user.

LTE Timeline
Operators are just now fully deploying 3G using WCDMA or UMTS/HSPDA. WiMAX is coming in via ClearWire in USA and several operators like BSNL in India and many others in Middle East and Africa. The first LTE deployment in USA is with relatively tiny MetroPCS which may just beat the big 3 LTE carriers (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) in the race to 4G. Verizon is claiming 2010 LTE deployment and AT&T is taking a more patient approach and states that LTE is in 2011-12 timeframe. China is unique, as usual. They have taken the TD-SCDMA 3G route which is a “unique to China” standard.  Chinese 4G strategy is not clear still. India is more LTE centric like the West with major carriers like Airtel and Vodafone adopting the LTE route. LTE in India is many years away as India’s regulator TRAI has not even awarded the 3G spectrum licenses yet.

Japan, we won’t even go there..

A Primer on WiMAX – see our post referenced on wikipedia

Our article on “A Primer on WiMAX” was liked so much that a link to it was created on wikipedia under Notes and References section of the main WiMAX page :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

Thanks to the team or individual who put our post on wikipedia. So we have decided to create “A Primer on LTE”. LTE is the competing 4G technology and coming a little later than WiMAX. Stay tuned for the LTE primer on this blog.

5 LBS Apps on iPhone

Apple’s new iPhone software with the iPhone OS 3.0 update will include Google Maps integration. With this I feel there will be an explosion of location-based apps to start appearing in the App Store. This again will be followed by other app store hope-fulls like RIM, Nokia etc. There are already a few location-based apps available now and here are five that are worth a look.

uSonar (Free)

There are lots of apps available that let you keep up with your social networks while you’re on the go, but what about when you’re bored and want to find someone local to hang with? uSonar lets you know who’s around and what they’re up to, whether they are someone you already know or not. Members post “blips” about their activities and locations, then you can message them directly through your iPhone or iPod touch. Everything about uSonar is opt-in, so you’re in control of who can see where you are, or send you a message or email. You can even post anonymously if you’d like.

Loopt (Free)

If you want people outside your immediate location to be able to find you, try Loopt. This app lets you broadcast your whereabouts or send pictures to everyone in your social networks, like Twitter and Facebook. It works across all major mobile phone carriers and supports over 100 different models of phones so your buddies without iPhones can find you. It’s famous among youth of UK

Hear Planet (Free)

If you like to go sightseeing when you travel, then you’ll love Hear Planet. It uses geolocation to determine where you are, then feeds you tons of information about the area’s landmarks, famous buildings, historical sites, and more via your headphones. More than just an audio tour guide, listen while you drive around running errands and you just might learn something you never knew about your hometown.

Whrrl (Free)

Some folks love micro-blogging so much that they want to document every minute of their day. If that’s your thing, let Whrrl help. Use your iPhone’s camera to snap pictures of your lunch, trip to the market, and visit to the dentist, uploading to Whrrl as you go. You can even add text and messages if you choose. Your location and micro-stories are shown on a map, which is really neat if you happen to be around other Whrrl users doing the same thing as you. Imagine attending the IPL Cricket matches and updating the experience as it happens, while simultaneously watching someone else across the stadium do the same.

Traffic ($1.99)

This app will let you know what the traffic conditions are like in your area and display them in list form or superimposed on a map. Traffic gives you details on how severe the traffic situations are. The app automatically locates where you are, but you can enter the location of your choice so you can get traffic conditions anywhere.

pre-CTIA event summary 31 March ‘09

Here are interesting happenings from the halos of CTIA Wireless site in Vegas (the event starts tomorrow but there were interesting pre-event conferences/announcements)

• Skype released on iPhone and BlackBerry. We downloaded it and really like what we see. Only issue : it works only on WiFi networks. For now TruPhone wins on this one as TruPhone works on operator network also using its AnyWhere service. We are sure Skype will provide that later. Skype for BlackBerry to be made available this summer.
• RIM to unveil the BlackBerry App World (mobile app store). Nokia Ovi Store comes this summer. MSFT Windows Mobile App Store called Sky Market is later part of this year.
• Handango, one of the initial mobile app developer, launches App Store Accelerator, yet another app store for mobile.
• MSFT thinks that mobile devices are fashion accessories. As such it is teaming up with top designers for designing mobile phone colors and schemes.
• MSFT is collaborating with AT&T for its PlayReady triple-play content management software for synchronized content delivery on three channels – TV, broadband and mobile.
• Go2 Media to create app like experience in mobile browsers like Safari
• AT&T to launch in-vehicle satellite TV service called CruiseCast. If you have seen Uverse from AT&T, you know what AT&T has mastered TV
• Samsung launches first WiMAX device for ClearWire. It is an internet tablet PC.

Stay tuned for more from CTIA as the conference kicks off tomorrow in Vegas.

4G still ways off

In spite of the massive 4G hoopla the world over, our estimate suggests that LTE-based 4G is still a good bit ways off. We expect 2011 when we see some sporadic strength in 4G business models where real money starts coming in with customer adoption. Although carriers like Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS in USA and others in Europe and Asia are planning LTE based 4G launches beginning this year, customer adoption may remain low and return on 4G investment will take time. 2012 is a good bet where we see LTE 4G beginning to take hold.

Till then, the “other” 4G technology ie WiMAX does have a time to market advantage. We expect substantial uptake in WiMAX until LTE comes around. However, we think that ClearWire and Sprint (and telecom equipment makers) will ultimately find a way to marry WiMAX and LTE and in 5-10 years we may have either a single dominant standard or at least cooperating WiMAX and LTE environment where devices and networks communicate at the IP layer easily.

As to 3G, China has just now come out with 3G licenses and countries like India are way behind on 3G – the license auction for 3G in India got postponed to later this year due to economic turmoil and upcoming General Elections. So WiMAX and LTE on a mass scale still look like distant dreams. Fact is that 3G and HSPDA is very good for many high speed apps which the customers want today. The business models around 4G are not even visualized so far. Of course all our thoughts exclude countries like Japan and Korea – where wireless is generations ahead….

Content Stores will be next

Today I was interacting with a mobile media expert and while talking suddenly it struck me that lot’s being talked about User Generated Content (popularly referred to as UGC). However, different people have different opinions on whether UGC will have a profound impact in times to come on when, where and how it is produced.

I think, as there are app stores springing up around the world…the day is not far when operators will start their own content stores as well, where-in people will be able to submit their content for public voting, popularity and downloads. Which ever UGC becomes famous, will be adopted by operator or media companies on revenue share basis with content providers…as I feel ultimately quality UGC provider will definitely dominate and will stand out against all other service providers who provide generic services like voice, text etc.

Notes from Telephony Live 2008, Chicago

Some other interesting discussions at the Telephony Live 2008 which I attended last week :

XO Communications : has a broadband VOIP service platform for corporate clients and uses BroadSoft platform. BroadSoft Platform allows SPs like XO launch service quickly and allow the configuration capabilities needed for an enterprise grade launch. According to XO Director of Product Management Nicola Jackson, feature packaging capability in the BroadSoft software was critical part of the successful launch.

TowerStream CEO Jeff Thompson participated in the panel “Service Provider of Tomorrow” and spoke about their Fixed WIMAX services and how launch of XOHM network by Sprint has validated the business case for WiMAX and has attracted the desired visibility from ecosystem partners to embed WiMAX in more devices and services. Jeff mentioned TowerStream mentioned by maintaining extreme focus on WiMAX services and not getting into VOIP or storage periphery services.

Tellabs was the lead sponsor for Telephony Live 2008 and presented a very interested use case on Latin American IP service provider Diveo. Diveo has launched a full IP MPLS compatible VPN service for business customers in South American nations. Diveo has 1500 customers including the Brazilian energy giant PetroBras and several financial majors in that part of the world. Tellabs exec mentioned that they are letting the core of the network continue to be an ATM/Frame Relay to allow the businesses to leverage existing investments. MPLS and IP functionality is being introduced on the edge to provide QOS and policy management functions.

The founder of NextGen Marketing group illustrated the success of one of their startup clients Sojern, Inc which has created an innovative business model of printing local advertising on internet boarding passes of various airline customers. The local advertising prints ad and event information based on the destination of the customer or flight layovers. NextGen Marketing Group is the “virtual Chief Marketing Office” where they provide strategy and marketing services in an outsourced manner to firms large and small. NextGen customers include Sojern, AirCell and NextGain.

City of Chicago CIO Hardik Bhatt mentioned how the city is tracking the city workers around the city and advising them on energy usage and route optimization. The city has an innovative IT dept and has introduced Mobile Asset Tracking and 311 VAS services. Unfortunately, state the city CIO, broadband is still not universal and 25-50% from low income families have no internet access limiting the scope of internet based services.

Ben Shin, VP Product Management of Sprint’s XOHM business unit mentions that it is not always about technology. Technology must address social needs and social concerns and also make things easy for consumers. XOHM is an all IP service with no service contracts and open ecosystem to encourage developers and partners to develop products and services for this environment. XOHM DayPass cost just $10 and provides all you can eat access for one day.

All participants agreed that future of communication lies in things like content, Location-Based offerings, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Gaming, Business Process Outsourcing etc. There are 250 apps produced for Facebook every day and this shows an open developer friendly internet can attract scores of developers to develop innovative apps. Same environment needs to be encouraged in the mobile space to achieve similar growth patterns. Many participants agreed that devices like iPhone and Android will shift balance of power to content, internet and application firms from the typical service providers.

Panel participation at Telephony Live 2008 conference panel “Service Gets Personal”

I had the pleasure of participating in a panel at the prestigious Telephony Live conference hosted by the editors of the Telephony magazine in Chicago last week. The conference titled “Telephony Live-The Telecom Summit 2008″ was a great success and I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent event, the panel participation and hobnobbing with some distinguished luminaries of the telecom and wireless industry.

Kudos to Editor-in-Chief Carol Wilson, marketing chief Kim Brower, all the editors including Rich Karpinski, Kevin Fitchard, Sarah Reedy, Ed Gubbins and the entire cast of Telephony magazine for doing a stupendous job on what I believe is the second time for this conference. Congratulations Carol and team !! Great job and I look forward to more of these in the future.

First on the panel I participated in :

I was in the panel “Service Gets Personal” along with some other distinguished telecom execs – Nancy Kaplan from SECOR Consulting, Ken King from SAS and David Allred from SezMi, a stellar team of telecom experts from blue chip firms. The panel was moderated by the Chief Editor of Telephony magazine Carol Wilson.

Carol, Nancy, Ken and David - It was a pleasure and I appreciate the opportunity. I whole-heartedly enjoyed the spirited discussion and felt enriched by the keen insights offered.

The topic concerned the implications and importance of service personalization in telecom and mobile offerings. Pretty much all panel members agreed that with brutal competition in telecom industry and commoditization of the old bread and butter voice revenue, service personalization is all but inevitable.

Broadly, service personalization means taking customer demographics, customer’s location, customer’s permission, customer control etc into account while disbursing relevant services and / or rendering marketing messaging to the customer base. Service personalization allows providers to create new revenue streams, retain existing customers and keep their offerings differentiated and innovative in midst of what is a highly competitive and fast-moving communication services market. The various techniques used to achieve personalization include :

- location – to render location-sensitive mobile advertising, in-proximity marketing or media

- customer demographics from social networks or customer profiles

- customer opt-in permissioning ( as opposed to spamming )

- reviewing customer’s past usage history or buying patterns such as used by telco operators to determine what new services should be offered

Interestingly iPhone, the new game-changing mobile phone has shown that mobile web can get 10 times the adoption with the right ecosystem and device support. This has created a race to capitalize on this new channel from all members in the ecosystem. Amid this application, device and media frenzy triggered by mobile web as on an iPhone, personalized services promise to get the customer’s attention, thereby creating new revenue streams and brand new players like Apple, Google, Loopt, in the mobile ecosystem.

Business Intelligence firms like SAS are sitting on prime customer intelligence data which can be mined for detecting customer patterns and offering more personalized services. SezMi has a breakthrough internet TV product soon to be launched which promises to bring internet style control to the TV experience. Consulting firms like SECOR and CellStrat stand ready to help CIOs, CTOs and CMOs sort through the service jungle and create viable and compelling solution offerings.

Challenges to service personalization are many, eg privacy concerns including location and data privacy, risk of spam, regulatory hurdles (eg FCC penalizing Comcast on Deep Packet Inspection), device and technology fragmentation (too many devices and standards).

On Telephony Live Conference :

The conference had some great keynote speakers, viz Daniel Kelly (Exec VP, Tellabs), Hardik Bhatt (CIO, City of Chicago), Andrew Lippman (Fellow, MIT Media Lab), Jeong Kim (President of Bell Labs). All offered immense insight into the future of communications and the role of communications industry in modern society. Hardik Bhatt presented some interesting use cases from the way the City of Chicago is using communication services and technology to enhance the lives of city dwellers. Andrew Lippman offered some really insightful advice on how it is about “We, not Me” anymore. Essentially he sought to convey that one must always think of social aspect rather than individualistic service (I don’t believe this conflicts with service personalization before as some might suggest, we are on two different planes here). Jeong Kim discussed innovation and its role in modern world and how innovation has a slightly different perspective in research and industry circles.

There were many other panel discussions with some excellent industry thought leaders and executives. All in all, a great and enriching experience for all and me in particular.

Carol and team – Awesome job. Look forward to other events like this from the Telephony team.

WiMAX rises from the dust

WiMAX got a new lease of life yesterday in the developed world. Sprint announced a breakthrough agreement with ClearWire of Kirkland, Washington to create a joint venture under the name ClearWire but with 51% stake owned by Sprint, 27% by ClearWire investors and the remaining by some other high profile investors. Sprint is the third largest US wireless operator and is betting on WiMAX in 4G race as opposed to AT&T and Verizon, the two biggest US mobile operators, who are betting on GSM version of 4G called LTE or Long Term Evolution. WiMAX has the unique advantage over LTE as WiMAX equipment is available now and LTE is 2 years behind WiMAX.

The deal with ClearWire is a complex transaction with an alpha-soup list of investor firms participating including Comcast, Intel, Google, and cable operator Bright House Networks. Why are these firms interested ? Intel needs a new chip wave now that Centrino is everywhere already. Plus Intel has been investing in WiMAX chip development as the next evolution of the WiFi enabled chip. Google is the preferred search provider on ClearWire WiMAX devices and its Android platform will find a big network partner. Comcast and Bright House are looking for a way to expand into high speed mobile services and wireless broadband – now that AT&T and Verizon are beginning to erode cable market share with their own high speed TV offerings and innovative quad-play bundling of wireless, wireline, TV and internet. Essentially bundling is the new mantra for getting customers and cable providers need a wireless channel partner to cover this one missing piece in the cable package.

With this WiMAX deal, Sprint has one less thing to worry as it was coming from low cash liquidity position and needed money to launch a 4G offering – it got its wish fulfilled by getting some partners with big pockets to invest in its nascent 4G endeavour. Now it can go back to focusing or investing in its core CDMA business and in time make it attractive enough to sell to interested parties, eg Deutsche Telekom at a good price. Sprint Xohm service, its WiMAX trial launch service, is all but dead or in essence, will be merged into ClearWire. Sprint is taking a non-operating role in ClearWire and is talking about having ClearWire manage itself independently with separate wireless assets and separate management structure.

Well – the ClearWire deal looks interesting on the face of it and Sprint does have one less thing to worry about now that its WiMAX / 4G path is clear. But in reality, the challenges remain. With an alpha-soup combination of ClearWire investors, this firm will be chauffeured by multiple backers with sometimes varying agendas. Historically speaking, such complex deals have a high failure rate. Plus it remains to be seen if Sprint core CDMA service ends up competing with its WiMAX offering. We think success of ClearWire depends on letting it be a truly independent company with dedicated management and letting it compete openly.

In any case, WiMAX got a new lease on life. Now with this announcement, it will trigger a chain reaction and network equipment vendors like Nortel, Samsung, AirSpan, Lucent etc will make hay by selling WiMAX equipment. Intel will sell chips for WiMAX – PCs with WiMAX-enabled chips will be hot. More PC software will be sold.  Google gets a mobile momentum on next generation wireless network. Cable firms have a high speed mobile partner. Nokia and other device makers will sell high end WiMAX phones. Consumers get truly personal mobile broadband everywhere, on their cellphones and laptops. They can potentially ditch their wired DSL or cable modems and replace it with wireless broadband. Everybody is happy at the end of the day. Lets see if this theory works or not. Regardless, the ClearWire announcement may trigger a larger WiMAX adoption in other developed countries. So far WiMAX growth story was limited to developing countries in Asia, Sprint announcement is a big boost to this technology in the western hemisphere.

MT