By Telecom Lead Team: Indian mobile industry is set to
witness 4G LTE mobile broadband auctions in the next 12-18 months. Equipment vendors like Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Samsung and ZTE will be vying for the big opportunity.
The initial
steps were taken by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) when they decided to
allocate 700 Mhz spectrum for offering 4G telecom services.
Operators who have missed out on 3G / BWA services will be keen to watch out
this 700 Mhz space. While BWA spectrum winners including Reliance Industries,
Bharti Airtel, Tikona, who received spectrum in 2010, will be launching TD LTE
services during 2012-13, winners of 700 Mhz are likely to bet on both FD LTE
and TD LTE technologies. FD LTE is more prominent in the global LTE industry.
In fact, some global operators are looking at dual-mode
networks.
Hi3G and ZTE announce world first LTE FDD/TDD dual-mode
commercial network
ZTE, a global provider of telecommunications equipment and
network solutions, in collaboration with Swedish carrier Hi3G, announced that
the world’s first commercial LTE FDD/TDD dual-mode network has gone live in
Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. This commercial dual-mode network will enhance
the network performance of Hi3G and provide better service experience to local
users.
Both services will cost almost the same for operators. Both
technologies will be picked up by Indian mobile operators. I am not seeing much
difference though FD LTE has more developed eco-system at present,” said Ulf
Ewaldsson, CTO, Ericsson, recently during Mobile World Congress 2012.
At the Mobile World Congress, Bharti Airtel announced it has
appointed Nokia Siemens Networks to manage its TD-LTE network in Maharashtra.
Airtel to launch TD-LTE services this year in India, signs deal
with Nokia Siemens Networks
The leading private operator in the country plans to launch
TD LTE services this year in India’s fastest growing telecom market. The service
will offer a much improved experience when using bandwidth-intensive
applications, with more consistent network coverage and faster response times.
According to a PTI report, the 700 Mhz band is considered to
be efficient and could fetch the government revenues more than it got through
auctioning of 3G spectrum last year.
before the empowered committee and three of them have been resolved fully.
Basically the issues were relating to the 700 Mhz band those have been
resolved,” said Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal.
of re-gaining confidence among telecom investors. Due to 2G spectrum issues,
several operators threatened to boycott Indian telecom market.
The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was
also attended by Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony,
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, Information & Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni.
Indian mobile users will have high speed broadband. As
of Q4 2011, 38 mobile network operators worldwide had launched 4G LTE networks
commercially. Key drivers are higher data speeds of up to 20 Mbps, simplified
all-IP networks and the commercial availability of more than 200 4G LTE –
enabled devices.
Indian operators will have additional revenue streams.
Globally, LTE revenues have reached over $ 2.1 billion in 2011, up from $ 0.6
billion in 2010.
As of Q4 2011 the North America region accounts for over 42
percent of the total LTE infrastructure revenue.
Analysts are predicting that from a regional perspective,
the market share will drastically shift from a North American lead market to
the Asia Pacific region, which will account for over 68 percent of the revenue
by 2015.
The year 2011 has already witnessed over 8.2 million LTE
enabled device shipments which account for revenues of over $2 billion. With
the number of shipments expected to reach over 30 Million by the end 2012, the
industry is set to grow at a rapid pace.
