LTE: the Next Stage of Evolution
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the future of wireless ISSUE 173 OCTOBER 2011 LTE: The next stage of evolution featuring Stephen Bye: The Sprint CTO on the firm's newly announced move to LTE. LTE special: VoLTE, LTE Advanced, TD-LTE and a full round-up of deployments in the Americas. 00_MCI173_Oct.indd 1 12/10/2011 12:19 The data explosion. We can help you stay in one piece. No one knows what the telecoms industry of tomorrow will bring. But one thing we can be sure of is that demand for data will explode. In this ever-complex world we can help your business flow through change as it happens with the most flexible networks, services and solutions available: Networks that adapt in an instant to fulfill unpredictable demand; a complete range of experts, processes, tools and partners that create seamless business transformation; deep customer insight that drives targeted real-time action to improve their experience. Find out more about how Nokia Siemens Networks can help you flow through change. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com The data explosion. We can help you stay in one piece. No one knows what the telecoms industry of tomorrow will bring. But one thing we can be sure of is that demand for data will explode. In this ever-complex world we can help your business flow through change as it happens with the most flexible networks, services and solutions available: Networks that adapt in an instant to fulfill unpredictable demand; a complete range of experts, processes, tools and partners that create seamless business transformation; deep customer insight that drives targeted real-time action to improve their experience. Find out more about how Nokia Siemens Networks can help you flow through change. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com Untitled-2 1 08/09/2011 14:59 FRONT Editorial 04 CONTENTS OCTOBER11 Analysis 06 16 | STRONG FOUNDATIONS US carrier AT&T’s bid to acquire T-Mobile USA has attracted staunch opposition from the US US carrier Sprint officially announced Department of Justice, as well as fellow carriers. DoJ plans to begin offering LTE services says T-Mobile is vital to ongoing competition in the to more than 250 million potential market, but is it just trying to drive concessions from customers in early October. As the AT&T? In the handset sector the use of patents in industry’s worst kept secret the move the competitive battle is stepping up as players arm came as no surprise, but what did raise one another with the tools of legal warfare. Google’s eyebrows was the firm’s target launch at the heart of this wrangle, but also busy with its date of mid-2012 with a view to full mobile wallet deployment. network build out by 2013. A full two years sooner than anticipated. Sponsor’s Q&A 14 Nokia Siemens Networks’ head of LTE business line talks novel business models, terminal delays, spectrum issues and small cells. INTERVIEW StephenBye, CTO of Sprint Nextel talks about 16 network evolution. Thomas Noren, Ericsson’s head of LTE product line, 20 talks about the Swedish vendor’s experiences with LTE so far. | Global Events 2011 FEATURES AfricaCom TD-LTE 22 9 - 10 November 2011, Cape Town, South Africa China is renowned for its staunch commitment to home-grown technology, even if that technology is www.comworldseries.com/africa www.africacast-event.com sometimes a hard sell. TD-LTE, however, is not such a www.enterprise-ictafrica.com hard sell and it’s gathering momentum worldwide. AfricaCom is the largest international solutions and technology LTE Advanced 26 communications conference and providers. This year you’ll be spoilt An arsenal of technical solutions has been compiled exhibition in the continent gathering for choice with 11 special focus that, in various combinations, will boost the together 5,000+ telecoms decision- sessions, 4 strategic keynotes, and performance of LTE, creating the ‘True 4G’ of LTE makers. Benefit from 40+ hours of 2 co-located events, AfricaCast and conference sessions delivered by 150+ Enterprise ICT Africa, and 2 days of Advanced. But opinions are divided over how soon it visionary speakers and an exhibition technology specific Masterclasses in will arrive, and whether or not it’s even necessary. featuring 250+ of the world’s leading the exhibition. VoLTE 30 Broadband Traffic Management Mobile Roaming World Summit 2011 Mobile operators are faced with the task of bridging Global Congress 16 -17 November 2011 the gap between their network evolution strategies 15 -17 November 2011 London, UK and current 2/3G realities, as voice continues to be London, UK www.roamingconference.com the killer app for mobile operators. http://www.broadbandtrafficevent.com Middle East Telco World Summit 2011 OTTtv World Summit 29 - 30 November 2011 LTE Roaming 34 15 -17 November 2011 Dubai, UAE Mary Clark, SVP Roaming, Syniverse, looks at how London, UK http://me.comworldseries.com disparate next-generation networks connect with www.ottworldsummit.com each other and existing 2G/3G deployments, and how customers take the 4G experience outside the operator’s home network. LTE Americas 36 The latest information on trials, tests and deployments of LTE in North and Latin America, from Telecoms.com just got smarter.... Subscribe to MCI today! the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. Opinion, breaking news, debate, Tel: 0870 787 6823 careers, events & research. Fax: +44 20 8606 7301 THE INFORMER Visit www.telecoms.com Email: [email protected] www.telecoms.com/magazine-subscription/ The untimely death of Apple founder Steve Jobs in 40 early October triggered an outpouring of grief. Mobile Communications International | First for news, best for business 03 03_MCI173.indd 3 12/10/2011 12:36 EDITORIALOCTOBER11 [email protected] Your world on a SIM here was a fascinating announcement according to Informa Telecoms & Media. That HEAD OFFICE Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, early in October from Facebook and is a signifi cant market. London, W1T 3JH Gemalto that showed Zuckerberg and What’s interesting about the deal is that Tel: +44 (20) 701 75000 T Fax: +44 (20) 701 75647 Co. going all out for the emerging markets, it puts the mobile operator at the centre of and the mass of mobile phone owners whose the play. If Facebook has to be distributed EDITORIAL Please send all press releases to [email protected] handsets aren’t deemed ‘smart’. on a SIM to get to the second and third wave Editorial Director The two companies have collaborated to markets, then it has to be distributed by the Mike Hibberd produce a version of the Facebook platform operator. By the time the more advanced Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (20) 701 75201 handset technology fi lters down, perhaps the that can be embedded on a SIM card. The Deputy Editor interface is necessarily rudimentary, but relationship between the operator and the James Middleton OTT provider will be tighter, more symbiotic. Email: [email protected] still allows for status updates, messages Tel: +44 (20) 701 75257 and friend requests to be managed from Going after the mass market was some- Assistant Editor lower-end handsets. And because the service thing that Steve Jobs always avoided. With Dawinderpal Sahota Email: [email protected] is SMS-based, users don’t need a data plan. the launch of the iPhone 4S, just as this issue Te l : +44 (0)20 7017 4010 There are those who believe that Facebook was going to press, came the familiar clamour Correspondents: has already peaked and, like MySpace before for some kind of ‘nano’ iteration of the iconic The Informer it, is teetering on the brink of a gradual device that could get Apple’s foot in the door [email protected] demise as users leave for alternative net- at the lower end of the market. But, again, ADVERTISING working communities. If this is the case in such a device did not appear. Sales Manager Michael Butcher the advanced markets where the platform In the end the launch was overshadowed by Email: [email protected] has enjoyed its early success, then hitting Jobs’s untimely passing, at just 56. The plaudits Tel: +44 (20) 701 75601 the emerging markets before the handset came thick and fast and, whatever you think of Chris Beales Email: [email protected] technology fi lters down to them is a canny the products, or Jobs’s approach to their crea- Tel: +44 (20) 701 6893 manoeuvre. tion, it was a situation when—unusually—those DESIGN & PRODUCTION Gemalto, which developed the solution, plaudits didn’t overplay the importance of the Design & Production Manager said in October that it will go fi rst to Latin man. The iPhone changed everything, and the Joanne Lowe Email: [email protected] America, with Telecom Argentina the debut iPhone was the Steve Jobs vision made real. Tel: +44 (20) 701 75604 operator partner. The carrier had almost His death leaves a huge gap not just at MARKETING / LIST RENTAL 17.5 million mobile users at June this year, Apple, but in the wider mobile industry. 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