The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards organization has firmed up the specifications for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and extended the deadline for System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network specifications, according to Unstrung.
For those of you unfamiliar with the mass of three-letter-abbreviations in Mobile, then LTE is widely regarded as THE 4G technology, particularly since the waning WiMAX continues to lose momentum.
Of course, there is an awful specified (and not specificed) within the upcoming standards release 8 from the 3GPP – which is adhered to by pretty much all companies involved in Mobile – after all, if you don’t have common standards, then interoperability (IOP) is a dead duck!
Interestingly, Unstrung notes that DoCoMo is shooting for a 2010 rollout of LTE, and Verizon likewise for a similar timeframe of… end of 2009? Wow that is ambitious.
My take on this is that the early adopters (and this is especially the case with telecoms infrastucture products – I’ve spent 10 years working with them, so I should know!) will get tech that doesn’t IOP properly, and that underperforms – and that later revisions of hardware and software will see quite massive improvements. However in this instance, the question is whether being first-to-market will be worth enough to see them push rollout with relatively immature products…
Anyhoo, the news that a 4G standard is being agreed on is great, and I can’t wait for the day when my Mobile broadband outpaces my landline – oh hang on, it already has. Doh.
[Via: Unstrung.com]