Enterprise Briefing

Industry watch

All-new mobile broadband awaits

The Mobile World Congress always throws up an unexpected hot topic and this year was no exception with 3G LTE (long term evolution) the buzzword on everyone’s lips. LTE is the industry’s vision of what next for mobile broadband and will be the natural successor to HSPA, itself the star of the 2006 show. 

This year's MWC in Barcelona saw Ericsson demonstrate what it claims was the first end-to-end LTE phone call using handheld devices and while others, such as Motorola, also entered the fray, there was little of substance for the enterprise user. Motorola’s ‘experiences’ focused largely on consumer applications, such as high definition video blogging, ‘follow me video’ (high definition video played on a set top box that will hand over to an LTE-enabled device), online games played over an LTE network and LTE-enabled VoIP calls.

Another vendor at the show, NXP Semiconductors, announced the availability of a multimode LTE modem, which it claims is capable of achieving data transfer rates of 150 Mbps down and 50 Mbps up. The chip developers says the modem is suitable not only for handsets but also optimized for next generation laptops, internet tablets and a new breed of ultra-mobile PCs to deliver fast internet browsing, streaming video, multiplayer gaming and full length HDTV films.

don’t get carried away

Juniper Research forecasts that by 2012, nearly 24 million subscribers worldwide will be using services based on LTE. But it's still early days for the technology some people are calling Super 3G. Existing mobile broadband technologies have yet to fulfill their potential. Mark Heath, an associate at analyst firm Analysys, points out that although there were 2.8 billion mobile subscribers using networks based on the GSM/UMTS family of standards at the end of 2007, only 7% were on UMTS itself.

In spite of this limited penetration, the standards body responsible for mobile developments – the 3GPP - has already mapped out a series of enhancements to UMTS, including HSDPA (14 Mbps downloads), HSUPA (5 Mbps uploads) and HSPA+ (42 Mbps).

The LTE standard, currently being defined by the 3GPP as part of Release 8, will deliver 100Mbps downloads and 50 Mbps in laboratory conditions. This will not be possible in the real world, but commercial services will be far faster than the HSPA family is capable off.

However, the potential increase in bandwidth is just one factor that favors LTE, which makes better use of spectrum than HSPA. As a shared resource, it means that LTE will deliver faster broadband, to more people and at a lower price. It can also accommodate large cell sizes and so offer better coverage in rural locations. What’s more, LTE is part of the 3G Release 8 standard that will see the whole of the mobile network become end-to-end IP, which means less latency and simpler interconnection with other IP networks.

WiMax in the wings

Even if LTE does deliver a knockout blow to HSPA, WiMax is waiting in the wings. 2008 is widely expected to be the decisive year for the technology following the setbacks it experienced in 2007. The technology was originally designed for last-mile fixed wireless access but it has also become a mobile broadband specification. In theory, WiMAX offers greater range, increased throughput, higher quality of service and interoperability at a relatively low cost, however Analysys’ research suggests that other technologies may meet the demands of mobile network operators and customers better than WiMAX.

“Several WiMAX networks were launched in developing markets in 2007, but most were small in scale and, given the low disposable income in these countries, operators will need to revise their business models if the cost of mobile WiMAX customer premise equipment continues to be high,” said Andrew Parkin-White, principal analyst at Analysys. “LTE looks to be more suitable for developed mobile markets, but success depends on its ability to achieve its targets for network performance at an appropriate price and within the right timescale.”

The potential rewards of LTE are simplicity of operation, a ‘flat’ architecture that offers low latency and spectrum flexibility. Further advantages include roaming with 2G and 3G networks and backwards compatibility as well as improved performance and lower power consumption. For ABI Research analyst Ian Cox, LTE has the potential to unite the W-CDMA and CDMA communities because of its spectral flexibility.

“For users,” he says, “LTE will enable broadband services – including VoIP – to be offered over SIP-enabled networks. Each service will be IP-based, offering high data rates and low latency, with online gaming becoming a reality along with mobile network data speeds comparable to those of fixed networks. For vendors, LTE will allow the development of a new market to replace declining 3G revenues.”

Although consumer applications dominated demonstrations at MWC, LTE is well matched to bandwidth-hungry and IP-centric enterprise applications such as high quality video conferencing and collaborative working. Whatever technology wins out in the long term, the end-user will ultimately benefit from ubiquitous broadband that can support distributed workforces and help people collaborate in any location.