China Mobile will join the Vodafone-Verizon duo in LTE trials. The three mobile operators will focus on LTE FDD (the Frequency Division Duplex version of LTE) for use with paired spectrum allocations and TD-LTE (the Time Division Duplex version of LTE) as an evolution of current TD-SCDMA technology to enable the exploitation of unpaired spectrum globally.
The trials are designed to “explore the performance of LTE with different spectrum types as a potential next generation mobile technology.” They will provide an opportunity to adopt a harmonised access platform with global scale and high performance inter-working with the existing technologies of all three companies.
Multi-mode devices will create regional and global roaming opportunities, while raising the prospect of providing greater interoperability between different global operators at the same time.
Now guys/gals, please hurry with those trials. We really want to start using LTE as soon as possible. HSPA is cool, and even though it’s still not rolled out in majority of markets around the world, knowing that there’s something better, simply kills us. 🙁
Full release is available from here.