The GSA (Global Suppliers Association) is reporting that over the past 8 months there has been a near 100% increase in the number of operators around the world committing to the LTE standard. There are now 51 network commitments in 24 countries, an increase of 96% over the past 8 months. Not all is rosy in terms of a frequencies however with the EU mainly sticking to 2.6 GHz for LTE, American operators using 700 MHz, and the Japanese using 800 MHz, 1.5 GHz or 1.7 GHz depending on operator. Why is LTE (Long Term Evolution) important? It’s going to be 10x faster than today’s networks, with less latency, and it can scale to support more users. It really is going to be the next generation of wireless. Here is a list of who is working on what:
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is deploying LTE in the 700 MHz band. Trial networks are set up in Boston and Seattle, each with 10 LTE sites. Verizon in planning to launch LTE in up to 30 commercial markets by the end 2010, giving coverage to roughly 100 million people, and to deploy a nationwide network by 2013.
AT&T (NYSE: T) will deploy LTE in 700 MHz and plans to launch LTE in “key markets” during 2011.
China Mobile is building their TD-SCDMA network so that cell sites and other elements can be upgraded seamlessly to support LTE. TD-LTE is estimate to be commercially available around 2012. China Telecom plans to migrate to LTE.
Vodafone Germany is deploying an LTE system using digital dividend (790-862 MHz) spectrum. The government plans to auction 6 blocks of 2×5 MHz Digital Dividend spectrum in Q2 2010.
In Japan the LTE operators will use 1.5 GHz (DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile), 1.5 GHz + 800 MHz (KDDI), and 1.7 GHz (eMobile). NTT DoCoMo plans to launch a commercial LTE launch in December 2010. They will initially focus on PC usage and will only begin offering dual-mode 3G/LTE handsets in 2011. By 2014 NTT DoCoMo plans to provide LTE service to 50% of the population from around 20,000 base stations at a cost of between $3 to 4 billion. eMobile says their LTE network will launchin September 2010.
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM), KTF and LG Telecom are deploying LTE networks in South Korea right now.
Telstra will deploy LTE in hotspots in Australia, mainly in urban areas in 2.6GHz spectrum, and will fill rural broadband gaps using 700MHz. Neither of these bands has been auctioned yet though.
TeliaSonera Sweden is deploying LTE using nationwide 2 x 20 MHz 2.6 GHz spectrum. On May 25, 2009 TeliaSonera unveiled the world’s first commercial LTE site, part of the LTE network scheduled to launch in Stockholm in 2010.
Tele2 Sweden and TeleNor Sweden are jointly building an LTE network. The joint venture includes spectrum sharing in the 900 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. Launch of LTE services is targeted for end 2010, or when modems are available. By 2013 the operators expect 99% of the Swedish population to have access to mobile broadband at speeds up to 80 Mbps in rural areas and up to 150 Mbps in urban areas.
TeliaSonera Norway is planning to launch an LTE commercial launch in Oslo in 2010.
Aircell will launch LTE in 2011 to boost capacity of their in-flight network.
Bell Canada and Telus have deployed a joint HSPA network, which will later be upgraded to LTE. Rogers Wireless is conducting LTE trials right now.
In Hong Kong 2 x 15 MHz blocks of 2.6 GHz FDD spectrum have been auctioned, and won each by China Mobile, Genius Brand (Hutchison Telecom/PCCW) and CSL Limited.
SmarTone-Vodafone plans to deploy LTE re-using their GSM (900/1800) spectrum in Hong Kong.
Smart Communications has conducted the first LTE trial in the Philippines. Piltel is reported to have applied for the remaining 3G licence in the country to deploy LTE services.
Chunghwa Telecom is firmly committed to LTE, however the spectrum situation in Taiwan is unclear. Deployment is expected to start from around 2012.
Speaking at the LTE Forum 2009 in Lisbon, Portugal, Telecom CEO Zeinal Bava announced LTE trials would be undertaken in Portugal and Brazil.
Vodacom is testing LTE in its South Africa and reportedly has 1,000 LTE ready cell sites with launch planned “when handsets become available”.
VivaCell-MTS in Armenia, is reported to have confirmed plans to deploy LTE in 2010.
MTS, Uzbekistan will deploy LTE and is setting up a pilot LTE network in Tashkent for testing 2010-2012.
T-Mobile Austria launched a 60 cell site trial LTE network in Innsbruck in July 2009.
3 Austria provided a live LTE demonstration at the European Forum in Alpbach, and on August 25, 2009 announced that upgrading of their entire network for LTE had begun, and that the company will have the technical capability to offer LTE to customers from 2011.
In Denmark a public consultation on 2.6 GHz is underway. An auction is expected during Q1 2010.
Telefonica has conducted LTE field tests at its Madrid Demonstrations Center, achieving download speeds over 140 Mbps, and plans to trial LTE on its mobile networks in Argentina, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, and the UK.
Bouygues Telecom has selected an infrastructure partner for Europe’s first LTE trial in the 1800 MHz band. The trial is scheduled to begin in 2010 at a number of sites in the western part of France.
An auction for 2.6 GHz spectrum recently closed in Finland and three operators (Elisa, TeliaSonera and DNA) won a piece of it; they all plan to deploy LTE.
As for LTE devices, LG is saying that the first LTE handsets should come to market. Samsung and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) have already demonstrated LTE modems that you’ll soon see sticking out the side of laptops in cafés all around the world.
While the United States is still struggling to roll out 3G, Japan’s number one mobile operator NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) has said that they’re accelerating their plans to turn off their 2G network. What was supposed to take place during December 2012 has now been pushed forward to March 2011. For those of you counting, that’s only 16 months away. Japan’s third largest operator, Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF), is even more ambitious and plans on terminating their 2G network in 4 months. With Japanese consumers using 3G handsets exclusively, and the entire country of Japan being a little smaller than the state of California, it’s no surprise to see the nation with the most advanced wireless networks on the planet is eager to move forward and abandon legacy networks. What’s funny about all of this is what NTT DoCoMo and Softbank are calling “legacy”, AT&T is calling “the best network” America has to offer.
Brad Pitt is at it again, appearing in yet another commercial for Japanese carrier SoftBank. In this commercial, Pitt plays a character doing everything he can to please sumo champ Musashimaru. I love it when his sandal breaks and Pitt comes to the rescue. Oh yeah, and I suppose there’s a cell phone in the ad as well. Hopefully the slim and easy to use phone doesn’t go right over the heads of the audience here. Hit play and enjoy.
Note: If someone could translate the text for me at the end of the ad… That’d be great.
The Japanese government has approved local service provider Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) to conduct an experiment with schoolchildren involving GPS-enabled phones. Basically, select kiddies will be designated as “carriers”, and their transmission of the disease will be tracked based on GPS proximity to other students. The goal of the study is to track how diseases move, and see if an SMS notification system could realistically warn people of potential danger zones.
This sounds cool on the one hand, but on the other, it would necessitate a phone keeping close tabs on your health readings, or otherwise manually marking yourself as infected. Call me crazy, but one way or the other, I don’t think anyone will jump on board to effectively wear a sign that says “Oh hai, I’m a plaguebearer!”, even if it may be considered a service to others nearby. Right now biometrics in cellular tech are mainly limited to peripherals, so it will be awhile before our phones start reading our vitals natively, but it’s not outside the realm of imagination.
While the American educational system continues to falter, Japanese educators are pushing for high-tech educational tools. A university in Japan is using the popularity of the iPhone to help keep track of their faculty and student body.
About 550 students and staff at Japan’s Aoyama Gakuin University will be getting free iPhones through SoftBank (OTCPK: SFTBF) as part of the school’s Mobile & Net Society Education and Training program. Aoyama Gakuin University will use the iPhone’s GPS hardware to help administrators determine if a student is on campus and whether or not they’ve actually been going to class. Because, you know, paper and pencil roll-call is so last decade.
Now, before you start spouting off about “Big Brother” and all that jazz, know that the Japanese university is also planning to send low-level tests and homework assignments through the iPhone. Although, it’s not clear if the school will have access to their fleet of iPhones’ location data when not physically on campus.
The program is slated to go into full-swing this Fall.
There really has to be a better way to take attendance…
Japanese carrier Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) is showing off a lot of new phones at their summer show, but the most eye-catching so far is the Sharp Aquos Shot 933SH featuring a beeft 10 megapixel camera with LED flash and smile detection. It’s not quite 12 megapixels, but damn is it close. Besides, most folks would be willing to drop 2 megapixels in favour of being able to crank their ISO up to 12800. Prying ourselves away from the camera bit, the 933SH also has a 3.3″ touch LCD screen, 16 GB of internal memory, and if that fills up too quickly with the GARGANTUAN pictures you’ll be taking, microSDHC support is also available. It’s times like this that the language barrier doesn’t seem that big of a hurdle for moving to Japan. Really, honest. Just gimmie the phone.
Four Japanese mobile operators will spend 1 trillion yen ($10 billion) during the next five years to build a next-gen mobile network with faster Internet speeds.
According to Nikkei – NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), KDDI, Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) and Emobile will apply to the government for licenses for the new standard (LTE?) by May 7. DoCoMo plans to launch the new network during next year, while three other players will do the same between 2011 and 2012.
As for the rest of the world, we can only hope carriers elsewhere will follow the Japanese example and at least start planning their networks during the next year.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless announced that it plans to join the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) established by China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), SOFTBANK (OTCPK: SFTBF) and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to “help accelerate the uptake of innovative mobile technologies on a mass-market scale.”
Primararily, we’re talking about mobile widgets here, which seem to be the hot topic these days with Microsoft and Samsung announcing their platforms, recently. That said, the JIL will launch later this year a range of tools for developers — including a common mobile widgets specification; developer kits; and an online repository, distribution and payment mechanism.
Aside from allowing web-based widgets, the JIL will also enable developers to access both handset and network functionality such as the address book, camera, location information and billing in a secure environment…
Perhaps iPhone sales aren’t as rosy as we think over in Japan. No solid sales numbers are available at this point, but one has to wonder how good it really is selling now that Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) Mobile intends to offer up the 8GB model for free. That’s right, free.
A report over at CrunchGear noted that Softbank is seeking a jolt in sales, and intend to offer the 8GB iPhone 3G for free on a 2-year contract, and the 16GB version for just over $100 on the same deal. The promo is set to begin this Friday and should run until the end of May. To coincide with the free iPhone, data plans are being discounted from just over $60 per month to somewhere in the $45 range.
Awesome news for everyone over in Japan for sure. If a free iPhone doesn’t start flying out the door, I don’t know what will! Now, if my carrier would only slash its data plan pricing, I’d be a happy camper…
Despite speculation that the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G would fail to catch on in any significant manner in Japan – a country so used to advanced cellphone features that it makes the iPhone 3G’s feature-set look dull – it seems that Japanese geeks are just as enamored with Apple’s glossy-finished touchscreen handset as the rest of the world. A new Japanese survey reveals that many Japanese mobile enthusiasts consider the iPhone 3G the “Best Smartphone of 2008.”
Of the 3,000 survey participants, the iPhone 3G was voted 2008’s best smartphone 1,286 times. A solid 61% of those surveyed though the iPhone 3G, available from Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) in Japan, was the leader of the smartphone pack – no small feat in a country that defines high-technology. The Japan-only WILLCOM 03 was voted as the second-best smartphone of 2008, garnering just 321 votes (about 15%).
The iPhone 3G was criticized for its lack of an integrated mobile TV receiver, but it seems that Japanese smartphone fans have looked past the iPhone 3G’s feature-set and embraced its innovative UI and slick design aesthetic. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that Softbank released an external iPhone 3G mobile TV receiver a few months ago.
The iPhone 3G’s popularity around the world is a given at this point. But, it remains to be seen if the iPhone 3G can carry over its fanatical growth into 2009. Apple is rumored to be working on an iPhone Nano, which could give Apple more form-factor options with which to push their iPhone brand. We’re still holding out for an iPhone 3G HD with a larger, higher-resolution display and a 3- or 5-megapixel camera. Apple, you listening?
While the American educational system continues to falter, Japanese educators are pushing for high-tech educational tools. A university in Japan is using the popularity of the iPhone to help keep track of their faculty and student body.
