Verizon taps LTE for its 4G network
Verizon Wireless’ decision to use long-term evolution for the carrier’s fourth-generation architecture greatly enhances the likelihood that LTE will be used for the nationwide 700 MHz public safety network and dampens the U.S. deployment hopes of competing technologies.
Verizon Wireless historically has built networks based on the CDMA migration path spearheaded by Qualcomm, including EV-DO networks for 3G. Instead of opting for ultra mobile broadband (UMB) — the 4G technology Qualcomm advocates for CDMA-based carriers — Verizon chose LTE, which is the 4G technology being used by most GSM-based carriers, including U.S. market leader AT&T Wireless and all European wireless providers.
Most notable among those European wireless carriers is Vodafone, a global provider that owns 45% of Verizon Wireless. With Verizon Wireless and Vodafone both planning to build 4G networks with LTE, the partners will be in a position to explore the development of devices that customers could use worldwide. Verizon and Vodafone plan to conduct a coordinated LTE trial in 2008.
“We expect LTE to form a key part of Vodafone’s future technology strategy, and the prospect of moving towards a common platform with Verizon Wireless is an attractive long-term goal,” said Steve Pusey, global chief technology officer for Vodafone, in a statement.
With its LTE announcement, Verizon Wireless will be adopting a 4G technology that should deliver greater economies of scale, as it is expected to be used throughout Europe and by AT&T, the largest U.S. wireless carrier with 67 million customers.
“With a host of new devices and applications, and a particular focus on embedded wireless in virtually every piece of electronics you buy in any store, we believe LTE is the best technology with the global scale to deliver on the promise [of 4G],” said Richard Lynch, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon Communications, in a statement.
John Jackson, vice president of enabling technologies at Yankee Group, said he believes the economies of scale associated with LTE was the key reason Verizon Wireless chose the technology.
“For Verizon, LTE is strategic,” Jackson said. “You want to be in harmony with the rest of the world. If we’re going to have this universe of devices that can connect to any network at any time, you don’t want to have … a technology that might preclude you from participating in that ecosystem.”
According to mobile wireless consultant Andrew Seybold, president of Andrew Seybold Inc., Lynch told him that LTE would be used on the AWS spectrum the company won at auction in 2006 and on any 700 MHz spectrum Verizon wins in the auction that begins this month. But Verizon Wireless plans to continue to use EV-DO on its 1.8 GHz spectrum at least though 2012, Seybold said.
Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless’ decision means the potential economies of scale for UMB have decreased significantly, said Roger Entner, senior vice president of communications for IAG Research. As a result, Entner said he doubts UMB will be adopted by any U.S. carriers, because Sprint Nextel — the other nationwide U.S. carrier that has followed the CDMA path — does not have a large enough subscriber base by itself to make UMB’s economies of scale work.
“When you lose one of the biggest cellular carriers, the psychological impact is at least as big as the actual impact,” Entner said. “Here, this stalwart ally of Qualcomm is not using [UMB] — that’s a big signal.”
Seybold disagreed. “I think UMB is a great technology, and I think it will be used by other people in other parts of the world,” he said. “I think it will be used by Sprint.”
A key to UMB deployments internationally likely will be adoption by Korean carriers that traditionally have been on the cutting edge of the CDMA migration path. But Jackson said he is not sure that the Korean operators will opt for UMB.
“The Koreans have pent-up, mixed feelings toward Qualcomm,” he said. “It’s a love-hate relationship. Qualcomm has supplied them with world-beating technology, but they’ve exacted a heavy price for it. The enthusiasm for WiMAX at Samsung speaks to a very keen interest in moving away from what are seen as proprietary technologies.”
While Qualcomm officials would prefer that carriers adopt UMB as their 4G technology, all analysts interviewed noted that Qualcomm has significant intellectual property for LTE, as well.
“Qualcomm doesn’t care, because they have intellectual property for both UMB and LTE,” Seybold said. “So anybody who shorts Qualcomm’s stock based on this announcement doesn’t understand.”
With the two largest U.S. wireless carriers — Verizon and AT&T — committed to using LTE in their 4G networks, the chances are much greater that a nationwide broadband network will be an LTE network.
“If AT&T or Verizon gets [the D Block spectrum], it will be LTE,” Seybold said. “If someone like Front-line Wireless gets it, they might be stupid enough to make it WiMAX. And I say stupid because it’s real clear that the savings to the first-responder community is going to be LTE technology, not WiMAX, because of the sheer volume of product that will be available for LTE.”
Jackson generally echoed this sentiment. “If I were a betting man, [LTE is] where I would put my money, but it’s still not clear,” Jackson said. “I’m hard-pressed to think of other technologies that might end up sitting in there, but it’s still unclear.”
LTE DESIGN GOALS
Peak data rate
- 100 MB/s downlink within a 20 MHz spectrum allocation
- 50 MB/s uplink within a 20 MHz spectrum allocation
User throughput (avg. per MHz)
- Downlink: three to four times better than Release 6 HSDPA
- Uplink: two to three times better than Release 6 HSUPA
Spectrum efficiency
- Downlink: three to four times better than Release 6 HSDPA
- Uplink: two to three times better than Release 6 HSUPA
Mobility
- Optimized for speeds of less than 15 km/hr
- High performance at speeds up to 120 km/hr
- Link maintained at up to 350 km/hr
Coverage
- Full performance up to 5 km
- Slight degradation from 5 to 30 km
- Operation up to 100 km should not be precluded by standard
Source: 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
