Interview: Director, Greenet, Netherlands: “We believe that proper broadband connections are a must for everyone.”

Bart Heinink, is owner and director of Greenet

Bart Heinink, is owner and director of Greenet, an ISP that offers a fixed-line replacement service using LTE. He will be speaking on this subject on Day Two of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013 at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands.

Please give me an overview of Greenet and its major achievements.

Greenet is a provider that focuses on the areas of the Netherlands where fixed-line broadband connectivity is poor and expensive. We believe that proper broadband connections are a must for everyone. We first focus on the needs of customers by targeting areas with poor broadband connections. After gaining commercial commitments we construct dedicated LTE networks used for fixed-line replacement. We are very successful in demand bundling (up to 90 per cent participation) and will launch our first network in April. After that we have a solid commercial basis that will allow us to quickly roll-out LTE networks at specific locations as a dedicated for Fixed2Mobile (F2M) substitution.

Why is LTE important to you and where does LTE fit into your strategy?

LTE finally enables mobile technology to live up to the promise it has offered for a long time, but which as yet has not come true. It offers a true alternative for fixed-line broadband. We offer LTE in the market as an alternative for fixed-line connectivity by bundling enough demand to be able to invest in dedicated LTE F2M capacity.

Could LTE be viewed as a threat or an opportunity for fixed-line operators?

Most certainly as both. In highly populated areas LTE will not be able to offer the required capacity to both fulfil mobile as well as ‘fixed’ demand. At home or at hotspots fixed-line connectivity and Wi-Fi off-loading cannot be replaced by LTE, nor can LTE live up to the bandwidths fixed-line networks can offer.

Having said that, LTE is a very efficient and adequate alternative to fixed lines in certain areas. LTE connectivity is around 10 times cheaper than constructing a FTTH network. In areas where FTTH is not viable, LTE definitely offers a true alternative if the network is designed in a way that guarantees sufficient and dedicated capacity. Given these prerequisites, the European Commission recognised that LTE is an adequate alternative for fixed NGA networks.

What are the chief technical challenges you are facing?

The major challenges we are facing are:

• Availability of spectrum. Sufficient capacity for offering an alternative for fixed lines requires sufficient spectrum.
• Ability to offer TV and video services. We hope transport technology, quality of service management on LTE will develop rapidly in order to be able to offer competitive TV offers via LTE.

What opportunities will the cloud offer to ISPs and MNO?

For a start-up like Greenet the cloud offers significant opportunities. Services that were complicated and expensive to offer as a small operator, can now be offered via the cloud. Business telephony is an example but also OTT TV and video services.

What do you think will be the most exciting developments in the industry in 2013?

I think it will be the industry living up to the promise that LTE offers. For understandable reasons the take-up of LTE in Europe as well as our home market the Netherlands has been quite slow. We see 2013 as the year mobile broadband will make a significant step-up in its capabilities and market potential.

Interview: VP product development, Technocentre, Orange: “The combination of RCS, LTE and VoLTE means that customers will have no reason to go elsewhere for their communications.”

Pierre François Dubois, VP product development, Technocentre, Orange, France

Pierre François Dubois, VP product development, Technocentre, Orange, France is speaking on ‘Maximising the benefits of LTE with RCS’ on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how RCS will both benefit consumers and help to maximise operator revenue.

Your talk is on maximising the benefits of RCS and VoLTE for the customer. However, consumers already have effective voice and OTT apps. Can you highlight what the benefits of using these will be?

There are three key benefits for customers. Firstly, RCS will be adopted by all mobile operators, which means that everyone’s friends will have access to a rich and reliable set of services. They will not need to be invited and then download an app – it will just be there. Secondly, RCS also provides a fantastic eco-system for app developers, as well as providing them a massive audience for their apps and services. Customers will therefore be able to enhance their lives with all sorts of fun and productivity applications with real-time sharing. Thirdly, VoLTE completes the picture by transferring voice communications to IP thus ensuring that all the RCS sharing and communications features can be done simultaneously with voice and video calls, and all at Telco quality. The combination of RCS, LTE and VoLTE means that customers will have no reason to go elsewhere for the social or business communications.

How can operators make best use of RCS services to increase revenues?

Market research tells us that customers are happy to buy extra data bundles for services which add value to their lives. This is what we already do with specific applications like Deezer or Orange consumer cloud. Mobile data usage will therefore drive revenues in the future. With this objective in mind, RCS provides a core set of IP based communication services and APIs that are designed to stimulate data usage and this is why RCS APIs are important for our future. For example, video applications can leverage these APIs for the benefits of both parties. Social networks can also contribute to this objective, but I believe MNOs must have their own growth engine to better control their business model.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Will VoLTE be an upsell to consumers or will it just be a transparent service for consumers with a transition that occurs in the background.

VoLTE will simply replace circuit switched voice and, whilst it certainly brings a better experience, I don’t believe it will be an upsell to consumers. VoIP and RCS over LTE together will provide a great customer experience with many added-value applications and together drive data usage and revenues.

What do you think will be the most critical development in LTE over the next six to 12 months?

I think that until recently, most MNOs have worked on RCS, LTE and VoLTE projects with different timelines. Nevertheless we need to anticipate, not only technically, the fact that we are migrating to IP communications. I foresee two important challenges:

• RCS over LTE with seamless switching  and continuity of sessions when switching between 4G/3G/Wifi/2G
• Convergence between RCS and VoLTE as a consistent service platform. Orange strongly supports the initiative launched recently by the GSMA to address this point.

Please tell me why coming to the LTE World Summit is so important for yourself and for Orange and why it’s a great event.

LTE is a true revolution for our industry. It is always difficult to guess what will come out of a revolution and in our case a lot of uncertainties remain for the future of our business model. I think this event is a unique opportunity to share possible scenarios both on technical and marketing aspects with experts in our industry. As it takes place in Europe, where competition is very fierce, I expect the presentation and the debates to help us better shape the future.

Interview: Head of international standardisation and IP management, DT, UK: “competing with OTT is not the goal of Deutsche Telekom.”

Michele Zarri, head of international standardisation and IP management, Deutsche Telekom, UK

Michele Zarri, head of international standardisation and IP management, Deutsche Telekom, UK, is speaking on VoLTE vs OTT Voice on Day Two of the LTE World Summit, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Speaking ahead of the show, Zarri explains why he feels the operator provided voice services will still offer benefits to consumers over OTT VoIP applications.

What is your timeline for VoLTE and what benefits will it bring?

Early versions of VoLTE have already been launched in some markets such as Korea and Hong Kong. Operators are currently focussing on deploying LTE, but deployment of IMS platforms, accelerated by the desire to launch Joyn, is taking place simultaneously. Additionally, given the availability of devices compliant to the GSMA’s IR.92 standard, expected during the course of 2013, there is no technical impediment to launching VoLTE. As a consequence I expect to see commercial services rolled out by the end of this year (2013) in most developed markets with international roaming launched within two years after that.

From an operator point of view, the main benefit of VoLTE is being able to provide the voice service natively over the packet switched access, while avoiding disruption to back-office processes. This removes the last constraint justifying the running of circuit-switched networks; therefore achieving the objective of moving fully to the more efficient packet-switched access.

What appeal will VoLTE have to consumers over and above their favourite OTT apps?

Today customers are already replacing the mobile operators offered voice service with their favourite OTT application. The reasons why OTT apps have not been adopted in large scale therefore is not the availability of broadband mobile access, but due rather to the benefits offered by operator-supplied voice. Such advantages will not be lost in the migration to VoLTE. What I am thinking of is reach (call and be called by anyone), security (a trusted relationship with the operator and strong encryption), privacy (user data is safe with an operator), familiar interface (voice client is natively integrated in the handset), seamless user experience (use of phone numbers, set of supplementary services), predictability (well-known charging scheme) and, last but not least, quality, as the network is configured to prioritise voice traffic over other types of traffic.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Will VoLTE sound significantly better than current voice calls?

Calls between two VoLTE users will use the HD voice codec, resulting in a far superior experience. In fact HD Voice is already available over 3G networks, therefore in time the vast majority of the mobile to mobile calls will enjoy the benefits of such a codec. Fast forwarding a few years, as IMS allows the device of the caller and of the called party to negotiate the codec used, it is imaginable that new and more powerful codecs will be introduced and used for Voice over IMS calls.

Why was VoLTE not baked into LTE from initial launch of the technology?

The goal of 3GPP when developing LTE was primarily to create a radio technology that could meet the IMT‑advanced requirements issued by ITU, therefore the service layer was not in focus. Furthermore, in 2008, when the LTE specifications were released, IMS was already a three-year old technology and earmarked as the means to create voice services over a packet switched access. In fact, you will notice that no service except connectivity was, to use your expression, baked into LTE, though the low-latency target and support for guaranteed bit-rate were evidently tailored for the support of voice and other multimedia services.

Is any kind of VoLTE launch practical without SRVCC widely implemented?  (In a network without SRVCC implemented, please explain what happens when a VoLTE call is made to a handset that goes out of LTE coverage?)

Indeed SRVCC will be important functionality in the early days of VoLTE due to the expected patchy LTE coverage. However, when operators start rolling out voice over HSPA, which has also been profiled in GSMA, the occurrence of SRVCC events will become much less frequent, since the far more efficient packet switched handover will be used instead to move from LTE to 3G. Other positive aspects are that field tests by Deutsche Telekom have shown that the predicted long interruption of the service in case of SRVCC have been overestimated.

As a VoLTE call would fail when the handset goes out of coverage, operators are unlikely to deploy VoLTE until SRVCC is available and will instead rely on CS Fallback, whereby the handset moves to a legacy access technology prior setting up a call.

Do you believe that RCS services can genuinely help the industry compete with OTT?

Contrary to this widespread misconception, competing with OTT is not the goal of Deutsche Telekom. Arrogant as it may sound, Deutsche Telekom will not lower its standards to those of some of the OTT offers currently available to consumers. The goal of RCSe is instead to offer an integrated and secure service for which there is demand in the market, adding all the benefits described above for VoLTE as well as other specific ones. RCS will also show that even traditional mobile operators can offer innovative services. For example, Joyn is a product based on the RCS-e standard and provided by the mobile operator community. The next version of RCS will be fully supported by IMS, bringing additional benefits for the consumer.

Interview: LTE roaming business development, Orange Group: “All communications has turned to 4G – it’s a hit!”

Laurent Pouillieute, LTE roaming business development, Orange Group

Laurent Pouillieute, LTE roaming business development, Orange Group is speaking on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we speak to him about what the challenges that lie ahead for 4G, particularly around roaming.

What major developments have there been with regards to the LTE industry in your region this past year?

2012 was a busy year with several 4G domestic launches in each EU country [we operate in] and 2013 is proving much bigger. On the devices side, the trend of 4G compatible devices is clearly increasing. All communications has turned to 4G – it’s a hit! On the 4G roaming side 2012 was a year of preparation and in 2013 things are starting to happen for regional roaming.

What are the technical challenges involved in enabling roaming?

While 3G roaming is mature in EU, with all services open, 4G roaming has raised new challenges for the industry. These are:

-          device band support is still an issue for worldwide roaming. Hopefully, at regional level compatibility is fine but it is clearly a limitation for fast worldwide 4G roaming.

-          LTE network interoperability, first days of LTE roaming would be busy with debugging all new 4G routes (time & resources).

-          LTE roaming timing; to try to reduce the time between LTE domestic and roaming launch.

-          VoLTE is a real challenge and the industry (including devices) need to deploy it fast in the next few years. The right interconnect model has to be found in order to ensure end-to-end QoS and we strongly believe that we need an IPX overlay to deliver that.

What do you think will have to be done to get LTE roaming to become the norm?

Having one single common/universal band everywhere would clearly help the roaming business to deploy faster on all regions.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a brochure for the event.

Will Wi-Fi offset the need for roaming?

I do not believe Wi-Fi will offset the need for 4G roaming. Indeed, 4G offers much better response time, bandwidth, QoS, and transparent customer experience and better coverage and mobility.

Pricing for LTE, particularly for roaming is a controversial subject. Are operators getting it right?

Pricing for LTE reflects both MNO’s investments in deploying 4G quickly and with maximum coverage and improving services and the customer experience. Roaming pricing has been regulated in some regions (such as the EU price caps), and this could help to develop usage.

What do you think will be the most exciting new development in LTE in 2013?

LTE will bring faster speeds and much lower latencies, opening up the possibilities for applications that we have not even imagined yet. What is exciting is the capacity to deliver end-to-end QoS thanks to that investment, and for that we need to find the right operating models, giving everyone its fair share of revenue (network operator, carrier, content provider and end user).

Interview: Chief strategy, innovation & technology officer, KPN Group: “LTE will finally allow the internet to go mobile.”

Erik Hoving, Chief strategy, innovation & technology officer, KPN Group

Erik Hoving, chief strategy, innovation & technology officer for KPN Group in The Netherlands, is opening the conference on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, The Netherlands. In an interview ahead of the show we spoke to him about KPN’s LTE launch and the effect that 4G services will have on consumers and the internet in general.

Where are you with your LTE deployment in the Netherlands?

As part of a valuable packet of spectrum, KPN acquired 800MHz frequencies in the Netherlands in December last year. We have two paired blocks of FDD – 2 x 10MHz.  We obtained the license to use the 800 MHz spectrum on 1 January 2013 and we officially launched LTE on 4 February, just six weeks after the end of the auction. We’re in the middle of a huge roll-out scheme in the Netherlands, increasing coverage every week. This summer we expect to have covered half of the Dutch population with 4G. We initially launched in the greater Amsterdam area where the financial centre is.

What handsets did you launch with?

We launched with four handsets – the Nokia 820 and 920 Windows 8 handsets, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Huawei P1 Ascend. Recently we added the Sony Experia Z, The Samsung Express, the ZTE Grand Era, the HTC One and the Blackberry Z10 to our handset line-up. We also launched with a Samsung tablet and a 4G Mobile Hotspot– a mobile router translating LTE to Wifi.

Are you concerned that there wasn’t an Apple device you could launch with?

The 800 MHz frequency, which will be deployed in 4G networks all over Europe, is not yet supported in Apple’s products. However, we expect that all major handset suppliers will support this frequency on new 4G phones for the European market, next to the 1800MHz and 2600 MHz frequencies.

What speeds are you seeing from your network?

The average speeds that we want to offer to customers on our 4G network are 20 Mbps down and 10Mbs up; we see that we are realising those speeds, and very often reach higher maximum speeds. This is actually so much faster than what we were used to in 2G-3G networks.

What would you say were the biggest technical challenges you faced as you rolled-out the network?

From a technological perspective, the thing that is almost always underestimated moving from 3G to 4G, is the significance of switching to full IP. An IP network is very different from a traditional mobile voice network. It requires different skills with regards to load balancing, to the core network architecture, signalling etc.

Do you think LTE will usher in truly innovative services?

First of all I think that 4G is going to be a unique experience for end-users.  Seeing is believing. The customer experience will improve ’hugely’.  The quality of your mobile internet experiences is just so much better. This may open up a lot of new opportunities. Things like gaming will become more important, more exciting for customers. Additionally, if you have a strong presence on the business market as we do in the Netherlands, the coverage inside buildings is much better. You’re going to be able to reach much higher internet speeds on tablets when you’re inside a building.

If you want to be a little bit more visionary what I predict is that the internet itself will change. In the past 20 years we went mobile and then we introduced the mobile internet at the end of the 90s but you had to wait so long [for web pages to load] that most didn’t bother. You’re going to see a different internet now as a result of LTE. What we have today is not a mobile internet — it’s mobile access to the internet.

In principle the internet today is designed for fixed [connections]. When you look at most websites, whether you are in your office or at home you get the same website, but what you’re going to see is that the internet access is going to go mobile. If I go to the McDonalds website when I’m walking in Amsterdam I want to experience a different website to when I am at home. LTE will finally allow the internet to go mobile.

What’s your view on TD-LTE as an emerging technology?                                    

Well I think TD-LTE is way bigger than we know in Europe. There are three major companies, China Mobile, Softbank and Bharti Airtel supporting it – and our German unit E-Plus is part of that alliance. TDD is a frequency and a protocol that works very well for data transfer. It’s an extremely interesting protocol to use for data transportation.

What are your favourite gadgets at the moment and what don’t you want to leave the house without?

I will never leave the house without my wallet! Wouldn’t it be great if I would only have to take my mobile phone with me and it would contain everything – my keys, my credit cards, my security cards, my entry cards?  We all know it’s possible. With NFC technology, with all the technologies that we have available it’s an application world and it could be developed.

Finally, what continues to excite you about your role?

This industry is very, very interesting. It’s a long-term investment industry. We have to take decisions for three, five, eight years in advance because if you don’t do that you can end up investing in the wrong things and you can invest too early or too late, which can massively impact your profitability in the long run. The LTE roll out for example. We planned long in advance, and that is why we’re so successful now.

Interview: Technical Sales Manager,Mobile Services, Telenor: “It is important to measure the QoS experience.”

Torbjorn Pettersson, Technical Sales Manager – Mobile Services, Telenor, Sweden

What major developments have there been with regards to the LTE industry in your region this past year?

The main developments this past year have been the operators launching their LTE projects as well as LTE roaming projects. A major development was the establishing of Diameter Routing Agents (DRA) to enhance interoperability, enable global roaming coverage and to greatly improve network security.

What are the chief technical challenges you are facing?

The main challenges are to ensure DRA is correctly implemented, dealing with Circuit Switched fall-back issues and to enable operators to connect to an LTE signalling partner (such as Telenor Global Services).

What are the key techniques for network optimisation in LTE and what effect can it have on the customer experience?

In our experience it is important to measure the QoS experience in order to improve the customer experience of downloading, uploading and using new LTE handsets.

Do you believe that RCS services can genuinely help the industry compete with OTT?

RCS will bring great opportunities since it will bridge the gaps between the islands of different OTT applications. It is also important that operators put great effort into launching RCS globally on new smartphones and handsets.

Pricing for LTE is a controversial subject. Are operators getting it right?

This is a challenging area with operators competing with each other locally and also for roaming pricing. In European countries pricing is driven by the EU regulation but outside EU it is up to the operators to agree on pricing that is affordable for customers.

What do you think will be the most exciting new development in LTE in 2013?

For me it will be operators launching global roaming LTE data services.

What impact does LTE have on your backhaul strategy and technology choices?

It requires greater planning in terms of security, diameter routing and GTP2 (Global Tunnelling Protocol data traffic version 2) traffic, capacity and QoS.

The LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a flyer for the event.

LTE at MWC 2013 round-up

Not so long ago LTE related news at MWC used to be something of a stand-out feature, but with the technology now mainstream in many leading markets round the world it’s now mainstream. Nevertheless there was still plenty of interesting LTE related things happening.

News wise there was an announcement from vendor Ericsson that it was still the number one in 4G and highlighted a major infrastructure deal with Telefonica UK, which operates under the brand O2. O2 has won 2x 10MHz of 800MHz spectrum, and has the taken on the UK regulator Ofcom’s requirement that it provide 98 per cent coverage of 4G in the country by 2017. Which gives Ericsson lots to do.

Small cells are going to soon play an increasingly important part of the LTE landscape. At MWC Aricent and Mindspeed announced that they have joined forces to create a small cell reference design. It features the Transcede T3300 Baseband Processor that supports 20MHz LTE FDD and throughput up to 150Mbps.

Sequans announced its LTE-Advanced chip: the SQN3220. This is part of Sequans’s Cassiopeia platform and adheres to Release 10 of 3GPP specifications, and as such meets the requirements to be considered ‘true’ 4G by the 3GPP.

The Novatel Mifi 2 to be launched first on Bell’s LTE network in Canada.

On the device side Novatel Wireless, the company that introduced the original wireless hotspot device announced the Mifi 2. it features a funky touch-screen display and it will launch first in Canada on Bell’s 4G LTE network in March where it will be known as the Mifi Liberate. Having recently had to use the original, very dated, unit, a screen that enables you to see what it’s doing easily would be much appreciated especially as claims an 11 hour battery life.

Huawei launched a global flagship phone the Ascend P2. As an A.N Other flagship Android phone it’s not that interesting really, but what is interesting is that according to Huawei it can support speeds of up to 150Mbit/s, which makes it faster than other major LTE phones such as the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII. That said, you’d have to have that whole base station to yourself to get that kind of speed and if you do, you’d be spoiling it for everybody else. The other downside is that if that does that person would be pretty easy to spot – they’d be the ones holding the Huawei Ascend P2. How to win friends etc…

The Huawei Ascent P2 is fast. This is not your grandma’s LTE phone.

In terms of future technology SK Telecom, the South Korean operator and one of the world leaders for LTE demonstrated LTE Advanced at the show. It used carrier aggregation techniques to reach speeds double that of current LTE, which is impressive. Unless you’re already using an Huawei Ascend P2 of course.

TD-LTE also seemed to gain real traction at MWC this year, showing that it is a technology that will be a force to be reckoned with. The GTI summit, which took place at MWC was packed out and there were keynote speech from members Bharti Airtel, Clearwire, China Mobile and the GSMA. Notably on the handset side there was support announced by Samsung and Nokia as well as from chip vendors Qualcomm and Marvell. Ericsson and NSN made up the vendors present.

Packed out at the TDD-LTe GTI summit at MWC 2013

At the event, the GTI said that new testing had been done between operators globally. Of note was a completed trial between China Mobile in Hong Kong and KT in Korea and with Clearwire in Hong Kong and in China

At MWC China Mobile revealed a multi-mode, multi-band TD-LTE devices, while LG demoed an Optimus G, it’s first TD-LTE ready handset.

All good news for TD-LTE. But will there be one device to rule them all. There will be according to Qualcomm.

Qualcommm announced the RF360 chip, which it says will be the first in the world able to handle every LTE frequency out there, making a handset using it a one-world LTE roaming phone. In total it support LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, WCDMA, EV-DO, CDMA 1x, TD-SCDMA and GSM/EDGE. The press release also says it contains, “the industry’s first envelope power tracker for 3G/4G LTE mobile devices, a dynamic antenna matching tuner, an integrated power amplifier-antenna switch, and an innovative 3D-RF packaging solution incorporating key front end components.” To be honest I’m not sure what any of those things are, but it certainly seems as if progress is being made. Even more than the Huawei Ascend P2.

We can expect the RF360 to appear in devices towards the end of 2013, hopefully bringing an end to the pain of LTE spectrum fragmentation.

EE bah gum: it’s fast! – EE LTE on test

As my day job involves writing about LTE on a pretty regular basis (as in every day) I always found it quite ironic that up until recently I’d never experienced an LTE network ‘in anger’. Come October last year and UK operator EE changed all of that. It’s taken a while but I’ve finally succumbed to the temptation and signed up to the service. This means I’ve done the full tour of UK operators. I started with T-Mobile in 1998 when it was still One-to-One, later moved to Vodafone (just for 3G – yes really), before moving to O2 (cheap). It means Orange is the only brand I’ve not been billed by, but I am at least now using its network.

Today the UK operator EE released its first figures since the operator launched its LTE network, and analysts have been fairly downcast on the figures, which show a decline in revenue of 2.6 per cent to £5.96bn. There have been an increase in post-paid subscribers to the service, the EE network includes the Orange and T-Mobile brands, which are 3G only. As EE has not released figures for the number of its new 4G EE customers there’s no way of knowing to what extent LTE has helped. The assumption from analysts though is that if EE has something to crow about, it would be doing so.

So what’s keeping the punters away? The only conclusion can be price. As you might have heard, there’s a double-dip recession on, which is not the ideal environment to get consumers to pay more for faster speeds, especially when they are as heavily capped as EE. Remember the entry-level cap only gives you 500MBs to play with and though the price has dropped to £31, it’s still pricey. To get a decent 3GB on a two-year contract with an iPhone 5 will cost you £46 a month with £99 for the phone.

But is it worth it?

The one thing I can confirm is that it’s fast. In areas of good coverage, which fortunately for me includes both work and home, LTE on an iPhone 5 delivers speeds that consistently put my Virgin broadband 60Mb connection to shame. Speeds of 30Mbps on the downlink and in excess of 20Mb on the uplink are a breathe of fresh air, especially coming from O2’s 3G network which at least for me, was pretty dire, rarely delivering more than 1.5Mbps.

What surprised me was how much difference it made even for the simple things, such as sending iMessages. The progress bar on messages just zips across, making for more natural conversations. Adding a picture to an iMessage used to mean a long wait while the message was painfully uploaded. Now, they go so quickly that the first time I had to check it had actually been sent and hadn’t just failed. All that upload speed is great for sending or posting pictures and videos, which is what more and more of us are doing from our smartphones.

A lovely was to demonstrate LTE is YouTube. It just loads up and starts to play immediately, with no buffering. Suddenly the speed of your device and not the network is the limit. This was brought home to me just today. I was on the train, and had need to watch a YouTube video. Immediately I did so and for once I was not thinking about latency or cell towers, – just the video. This all changed as the video suddenly stopped. I checked and noted that I was at a stop that I knew was an LTE blackspot (West Hampstead Station). 3G was displayed on the phone, but the speed wasn’t there. Result: experience spoilt.

This does seem to be a problem for EE. Even in the West-End of London I’ll see LTE come and go, and while DC-HSPA 3G is fast, I’ve also seen standard 3G, EDGE and GPRS, which means that your handset might well have to cope with switching between five different network standards during the day. No wonder these smartphones struggle for battery life.

If you have to fall back to DC-HSPA though performance is good. In a recent interview with EE’s Principal network architect, Andy Sutton, I was told that as part of its upgrade programme EE also currently has 40 per cent coverage of DC-HSPA on its network, and I can attest to this being pretty solid. However, ubiquitous coverage of either LTE of DC HPSA is still a long way away and clearly improvements can be made in the hand-off between network technologies.

LTE is not just great for video though. Being something of an audio aficionado I enjoy listening to high quality audio when I can. LTE enables me to stream by 24-bit FLAC files to my handset from NAS box at home, with no issues at all, something that was simply impossible on 3G.

As a downside, listening to high quality files on an LTE connection is also a great way for draining your battery, so necessitated purchasing a charging cable for work and plugging in on a regular basis.

I’ve also used LTE as a backup connection at home, when my Virgin connection has ground to a halt, as it sometimes does. This is thanks to the ability to very easily tether via the iPhone 5 hot-spot feature. This was banned by GiffGaff, the O2 MVNO I used to be on, a point of frustration when there was unlimited data to play with.

In my first month I’ve come just under the 3GB limit, which is clearly the sweet spot for me – enough to use the LTE as I want, without having to worry I’ll go over the cap.

What’s also gratifying is the speed at which EE is rolling out the network. At launch it was just 11 cities, and just four months later it stands at 27 cities – with 15 more by the end of next month.

And while I didn’t come to EE because of the value added services I have made use of the bundled wifi, which gives access to BT Wifi hotspots, the ‘EE Wednesday’s Cinema 2-4-1 offer, and the EE Film store, with a free film a week available to download that doesn’t eat into your data package to download.

To be critical, the EE app has just got very confused about my data usage, telling me I’ve used only 800Mb of my 3GB, when yesterday I had almost used it all up. The web site also had no record of my data usage. I also wouldn’t recommend roaming without a pre-pay bundle – the prices are simply eye-watering. Digital Commissioner Neelie Kroes has been working on forcing operators to lower these charges, and for me that can’t come soon enough.

The Clone Phone Lite app also seems pointless. It’s redundant for an iPhone thanks for iCloud, it only comes with a 500MB cap and when I tried to test the app it didn’t recognise my phone anyway.

Overall though, the combination of very fast network speeds and some actually useful value added services, I’d describe the whole EE experience as the most premium feeling package I’ve ever used. Which considering the premium prices is as it should be.

It remains to be seen then how it pans out. I’m relieved that being lucky enough to have an unlocked iPhone 5 without a contract I was able to go for a SIM-only package. This means that I’m only tied in for 12 months – not 24 and come next year they’ll be a pick of other operators offering LTE – (though of course as the iPhone 5 is LTE1800 only I’ll need a new handset to take advantage of them). If I stay, I expect that EE’s packages will be more enticing to the mass market.

So EE: it is expensive, and it can be patchy but as a teacher once described my contribution in class – “when it’s there – it’s really there.”

EE puts LTE in January sales

This is a guest post by Mike Hibberd, editorial director at Telecoms.com, Mobile Communications International magazine and Banking Technology. Follow him @telecomshibberd

Last year, with a deft move that left its competitors fuming, Everything Everywhere became the first UK operator to offer LTE services. This week, as Ofcom’s LTE spectrum auction got underway, Everything Everywhere has become—rather less auspiciously—the first UK operator to slash its LTE retail charges.

Most notable was the special promotion that will give customers 500MB of LTE data, and the standard unlimited domestic calls and texts for £31/month over 24 months with a handset for less than £30. That’s cheap.

At the high end, consumers that EE profiles as “super users” can spend £46/month for 20GB of data with a SIM-only plan if they sign up before the end of next month.

EE says that these are time-limited special offers but price-cutting tends to be a one-way journey. Even if these tariffs do revert to more significant premiums, other offers will take their place. Especially when Vodafone, O2 and 3UK deploy their own offerings.

These players, along with EE, are currently stacking their chips on the green baize of Ofcom’s gambling table. You wonder what they make of EE’s announcement as they weigh their wallets. It’s not the most positive of messages about the prospects for LTE operators in the UK—EE only launched in November and the prices are already coming down.

Unfortunately, and unlike the 3G auction, this game is being played behind closed doors so we won’t know if EE’s retail re-jigs will affect any other player’s valuation on the spectrum until the process has concluded.

We can draw a few conclusions from EE’s pricing tactics, though. First, the firm knows that its LTE lead is running out fast and it wants to wring every advantage from it that it can. Second, money is tight and the market is price sensitive at the moment. Third, and most worrying for EE and its competitors, faster network speeds just aren’t enough of a draw for consumers in the immediate term.

Consider that EE is cutting its prices in the face of no comparable network offering from any of its competitors. We’re used to hearing about price cuts because of intense competition; price cuts in a monopoly are somewhat less common.

The reality, of course, is that EE’s LTE network has plenty of competition, from the UK market’s 3G HSPA networks (EE’s own included).

Why should the end user pay even EE’s reduced rate of £31/month for 500MB of LTE data and a limited range of handsets when they can pay £26/month for 1GB of data at HSPA+ rates and get the Nexus 4 for free? This makes more sense financially to the consumer because consumers value the device more than they value the network.

Now this is bitterly unfair, because the network is the most complicated part of the mobile service and by far the most expensive to deploy and maintain. But it is a fact—and one that is unlikely to change any time soon.

Which is why operators need to be given as much flexibility as possible in their deployment of LTE networks. Ofcom is publicly committed to maintaining the number of separately owned and operated LTE networks in the UK market; it is one of the goals of this auction. And yet as our Telecoms.com Intelligence Industry Survey 2013 reveals, 65 per cent of respondents believe that network sharing is essential to the profitability of LTE. Not a useful tool to improve cost management, but essential to profitability.

EE will be speaking at the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a flyer for the event.

Interview: “VoLTE is set to play [an] important role within our LTE strategy”: Master Expert System Architect Network, Eplus-gruppe.

The E-Plus Group is the third largest mobile network operator in Germany, with just over 20 per cent market share. Ahead of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013 at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands, we speak to Dietmar Kohnenmergen, Master Expert System Architect Network for E-Plus Gruppe about its preparation for launching LTE and the issues around diameter signaling.

What have been the major developments around LTE in your region this year?

For E-Plus Gruppe, the major developments have been an IP RAN rollout and the introduction of EPC and associated testing.

Do you feel the people still need to be educated as to what Diameter signaling is?

The experts are quite familiar with Diameter signalling issues, but the operational teams still need some education.

What are the key issues around Diameter that the industry needs to be aware of?

The primary issues are E-signalling load protection and adaptation to the various needs of the different Diameter flavours.

How can these key issues be solved?

From our perspective the introduction of a Diameter Router Agent is one of the most promising solutions for solving diameter issues.

What are the other technical challenges around LTE that you expect to face in the next 12 months?

The introduction of Circuit-Switched Fall Back (CSFB) with acceptable performance will be a major challenge for us. The other challenge will be the preparation of the BSS systems in time for our LTE launch.

Where are you on VoLTE and RCS? Are these important to your LTE strategy?

VoLTE is in preparation phase, whereas our plans around RCS have not been decided yet. VoLTE is set to play a more important role within our LTE strategy.

Dietmar Kohnenmergen will be giving a presentation on diameter signaling at the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, taking place on the 24^th-26^th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Click here to download a flyer for the event.

Also put a date in your diary now for the inaugural LTE Voice Summit, taking place in London on the 23^rd-24^th October 2013. Click here NOW to download a flyer.

Inverting the Pyramid

So now it’s official. It seems that we now have conclusive proof that when it comes to LTE and the iPhone 5, Apple is the one calling the shots – not the carriers.

A report on our sister publication Telecoms.com has confirmed as much after a Swisscom spokesperson inadvertently confirmed it in a report on its LTE network going live.

While full credit goes to Telecoms.com for breaking the story, it was some digging by yours truly that led to confirmation of the news.

While researching the Swisscom story, in its press release Swisscom said that its LTE network would be going live on a triumvirate of frequencies, 800, 1800 and 2600MHz. However, in the release Swisscom said that, “Apple will provide a software update in due course for customers with an iPhone 5 or one of the new iPads.” This piqued my interest, as the iPhone 5 supports 1800MHz LTE, so surely is would simply be a case if putting in a compatible SIM and letting it do its thing.

It seems not. After I enquired further about this Swisscom got back to me to say that, “The iPhone 5 requires a software update since Apple only enables 4G access after having successfully tested their device on an operators live network.”

Wow.

What’s interesting about this is now it demonstrates that the pyramid has been inverted. Bengt Nordstrom, founder and CEO at industry consultancy NorthStream said he was ‘shocked’ by the news and that it proved that Apple is, “running the industry”, adding: “Apple have put themselves in the driving seat; it’s really changing the game.”

Operators used to be the ones who gave the go ahead on whether a device was good enough for its network – not the other way round. Carriers used to have the power to make or break a network. There are some who think that this has contributed to HTC’s decline over the last couple of years – with Samsung’s Android device getting most of the subsidy love in the US over HTC.

But as the most valuable company in the world Apple has a power that no one else has. It evidently conducts its own tests to determine whether the network is good enough, and only then will enable its phone to operate on that network via a software update.

It does have strong reasons for doing this. After the release of the original iPhone in 2007 exclusively on AT&T, Apple took a lot of flak after poor reports of performance on that network, and there was nothing it could do to correct that impression.

Now it can ensure that the network experience is as positive as possible, and after the Maps debacle and various other issues it needs to ensure it can do what it can to bolster its reputation.

From an industry perspective, the carriers are unlikely to be happy with this change in the power swing but the success of the iPhone means that the power is now in Apple’s hands and that is showing no sign of waning – just recently Sprint spent heavily (US$15billion over four years) to get the iPhone on its roster.

If you are to judge from the comments left on this story on the various sites around the web, (that is after all how we get a sense of these things these days) there are many punters that seem pleased that Apple is now running that show and dictating things to the carriers. Despite Apple being the one making the huge profits, many view the carriers as the ones restricting customers choice and squeezing the dollars from them anyway they can. While the network is central to what consumers want to do, what the carriers offer is invisible to most of them.

All that implies that when it comes to persuading consumers that the networks have the services that they want and should be paying for, such as Joyn, the operators are going to have their work cut out for them.

EE names its price

After months, nay years, of waiting, what is arguably the most important date for UK LTE is here. EE, the network that will launch the UK’s first national LTE service a week today, has announced its prices, giving UK consumer a first look at what they will have to pay to use the service. And as they say, the proof is in the pricing.

The prices cover subsidised smartphone plans, SIM-only plans, mobile broadband USB,  mobile wifi devices, and fixed-line broadband using both standard ADSL and fibre-to-the-cabinet, but what will interest the man/woman on the street though are the phone plans – and the starting tariff is £36 a month for a phone with unlimited calls, unlimited texts—and 500MB of data. A 1GB allowance is £41, 5GB takes it up to £36. The top-tier is an 8GB allowance at £56.

Move to SIM-only and 500MB will cost you ‘only’ £21. Its £25 for 1GB, £31 for 3GB and £36 for 5GB. There’s no 8GB SIM-only option for some reason.

This could be a problem.

Assuming a download speed of 15Mbps (we actually saw 27Mbps in the speed test at launch), and that entry-level 500MB of data could be downloaded in less than five minutes. Which, assuming 43,800 minutes in a month, would leave you with 43,795 minutes remaining with which you can’t not use the internet on your 4G phone.  You could pace yourself of course – but that would equate to around 10 seconds of full-tilt LTE a day. Whoopee.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration of real world use – you don’t tend to use that much data in one go on your phone, but even snacking on data, 500MB is a little on the lean side, to say the least.

What these expensively priced data buckets don’t seem to take into account is the way that LTE should change the way people uses their phones. Fast access will make using cloud and streaming services second nature – but if they do, they will run into their data allowances almost immediately.

Olaf Swantee, the chief executive of EE told Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Correspondent for the BBC that, “”We really think we’ve priced it at the sweet spot,” and, “it’s all based on months of consumer research.”

From the look of my Twitter feed the UK public would beg to differ.

This from UK tech site TechRadar – “Lots of anger about EE’s 4G pricing – if it was £36/month for 1GB, would that sway you? What would you be willing to pay?”

This from a punter – “If I switch to a 4G contract (still paying £36/month) my data allowance goes from Unlimited to 500MB! Kept that one quiet! @EE.” and “Over promising and over pricing! When will@ThreeUK have 4G.”

The Editor of PC Pro said, “EE has just blown all first-mover advantage with those ridiculous 4G tariffs. Shareholders must hold CEO accountable.”

And this from yours truly – “Initial reaction to @EE prices – they’re horrible. 5GB SIM only for £36? That’s a 260% hike on what I currently pay for data. I’m out. #4G.”

On the plus side there are some real positives. EE has said that tethering is allowed, as is VoIP and for £5 a month extra, the tariffs can be used when roaming across Europe and is several other selected countries, among which are Australia, China, India, Israel, Russia and the USA. In addition, free access to BT wifi is included, and as a value-add, EE is offering EE Film, which enables customers to stream one film of choice to any device a month, without impacting their data allowance.

The fact that despite promises that EE would only place a modest premium on LTE, these are in fact premium prices for a premium service. The mass market will have to wait for the other networks to join the LTE party (and if you’re an die-hard iPhone fan that will mean an iPhone 6 will be required  – the iPhone 5 will not support 800/2.6GHz LTE).

From a pure industry perspective, EE’s rivals in the market should be pleased with EE’s pricing strategy. Theyr’e not too low that all the value has been taken out of the market at the start, and there’s scope for them  to be more competitive when their services come online.

When that happens EE will be likely to be forced to lower prices, but for now, the price levels indicate that it is trying to take as much advantage of its first mover position as possible to generate revenue. That‘s good news for the industry – but less so for the consumer.

UK carriers joining forces over 800MHz LTE

Good news in the UK LTE market, as Three, EE, Telfonica and Vodafone have actually joined forces to speed up the use of 800MHz for mobile broadband.

One of the issues around the use of 800MHz is that the signals are likely to knock out terrestrial digital TV signals, known in the UK as Freeview. The four operators have created the Digital Mobile Spectrum group, which is tasked with ensuring that Freeview consumers in the UK do not suffer from interference from 800MHz LTE, an issue that if not dealt with could put a stumbling block on launching the technology. Under the plans, the four will contribute to a 180m pot of cash that will be used for equipment to tackle interference that up to an estimated 2.3m homes could face once 800MHz LTE launches. However, any operator that fails to win any 800MHz spectrum will not have to contribute and will drop out of the company.

How it will work in practice is that eligible households will receive a voucher to cover the cost of a special filter, which will be attached to the Freeview box in the living room. In some situations the funding will pay for an engineer visit, and in extreme situations where there’s no chance of terrestrial TV working again – presumably is they live right next to a LTE800MHz macros station. Interestingly, for around 500 homes in the UK, there will be no acceptable alternative – it’s unclear if the fund will extend to letting these poor people move home. (NB. This is a joke).

Either way, it’s a market of how serious the government and the operators to get this 4G thing moving and the coming together is in everyone’s interest.

Ofcom, the UK regulator pulled out an unusual masterstroke in allowing Everything Everywhere to refarm its spare 1800MHz frequency for LTE despite it clearly placing it at an advantage over its rivals who do not have such spectrum to spare. After initially throwing their toys out the pram, the move has clearly made the rival realise that they need to fight back with network engineers rather than with lawyers and get their own LTE plans going to earn revenue.

Therefore Three, Vodafone, and Telefonica won’t want anything to further delay their LTE plans, while Everything Everywhere will not want to be seen to be unfairly extended their LTE lead, which from an initial 12 months is now more likely to be six months.

As far as UK consumers go that’s a win.

How MetroPCS has handled interference between macro and small cells is one of the discussion points in the tracks that Small Cells North America conference being co-located at LTE North America 2012 taking place on the 14-15^th November 2012. Click here to register your interest

UK finally joins the LTE fast track

Today Olaf Swantee, the CEO of UK carrier Everything Everywhere, newly dubbed EE, confirmed that announced that finally, LTE was coming to the UK. In fact, it’s here already. As you read this, shiny new LTE 1800 signals are shooting out from masts in four of the launch cities that have been turned on today for testing purposes, these being London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol.

A word on the brand name change: Everything Everywhere to EE. It may not be the greatest name for a network, but it’s a darn sight better than the awkward, cumbersome Everything Everywhere, and as Olaf pointed out, it’s what the media refer to the network as anyway, and a link to what has gone before. A good move then.

The operator chose London’s Science Museum, home of so many technological innovations, as the location for its EE launch, a fitting venue for what EE CEO Olaf Swantee described as the, “communications equivalent of the change that jet made over steam”. The EE network he said would become, “as important to the country as the roads, the railways and the airports. This digital backbone will unlock new trade routes, unleash healthcare and create a host of opportunities that we haven’t been thought of yet. It will enable Britain to become a more modern, digital country, truly connected to itself, its neighbours and the world.”

By the end of the year the EE LTE network will be live commercially in 16 cities, the others being Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Belfast, Southampton, Hull, Nottingham and Derby. This will cover 20 million people, about a third of the UK population.

Fortunately those in other areas won’t have to wait too long, with the network rolling out during 2013 to the rest of the country and 98 per cent of the population by 2014. While a couple of years may seem a long way away, compared to the inertia regarding LTE only a few months ago, it’s relative light-speed.

No details were give on an exact full commercial launch date but we did get to hear about the five launch handsets, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, the HTC One XL, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE and both new Windows 8 powered Nokias, the Lumia 820 and 920. There’s also the Huawei E589 Mobile WiFi mifi and the Huawei E392 mobile broadband USB. It seems like a very strong line up, but Olaf gave a very strong hint that there was more major news to come saying, “one more thing, more devices to come”. I think we know what that means.

Of course the other major networks may not be happy at the year lead that regulator Ofcom has given them by allowing EE, the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, to refarm its 1800 2G signals for 4G, but it seems unlikely that EE would have made a big a noise as it has today about the launch if it felt it was in danger of being held up by litigation. At this point Vodafone and O2 would probably have more to lose than to gain by holding up LTE in the UK any longer.

It seems than the from seemingly last place, the UK could pull it out the bag and come from behind to take the lead for 4G, ahead of major economies such as France and Germany that have already had a head start of the 4G race.

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE announcing the new brand and UK LTE network

It’s been a long road for EE to get here but the master stroke was having 1800 spectrum spare, which came about when France Telecom and Deutsche Telecom agreed to merge their UK brands into a single network. It is this that has enabled it to make the leap forward it has today, and potentially get a valuable lead in the UK 4G market. Of course how effective that will be will much depend on how competitively it sets out its pricing. While the speeds of 5-6x that of 3G are not to be sniffed at, it won’t be as exciting for the country if average consumers are priced out of the market.

It could go that way of course. Orange and T-Mobile will remain but will be hived off as 3G-only with EE becoming a premium 4G brand. This would hint that not everyone using the EE network will be switching to LTE immediately, possibly because it will require a new device, and tariff pricing will make it a premium option.

There could also be some confusion, as all EE customers will see EE displayed on their phones, regardless of whether they are on 3G or LTE.

The nonsense that was spouted by EE about its rather underwhelming new logo can be forgiven, or at least ignored, but Boris Johnson description of it as a “pollen count dot idea” is better than what EE itself presented to us.

Ah Boris, after an incredible summer of British sporting and organisational achievement that was the Olympics and Para Olympics, the London mayor has been handed another fantastic boon – a city soon to be swathed in 4G signals. A good move of EE to bring him on board for a typically highly amusing speech, where he managed to get away with thanking EE rival Vodafone for sponsoring the Olympics, and declare his love of “gizmos spouting data”. (scroll down and click link to listen to his amusing speech).

Boris Johnson’s speech at the EE launch, London 11 September 2012 (Audio only)

Also mentioned by Olaf, was the introduction of ‘superfast fibre’, under the EE brand, but while I was hoping this might be some revolutionary fibre to the home, it’s in fact offering speeds up to 76Mbps, so most likely just using incumbent BT’s wholesale network. Even so, as a combined offering under the EE brand, offering 4G LTE and fast fibre seems like a very strong play.

Many details still need to be fleshed out, in particular regarding pricing, but it’s hard to come away from the day’s news without an optimistic feeling that with EE’s move in LTE the UK will finally be able to compete and even lead the way for mobile broadband. Like Andy Murray, after years of waiting, we could finally be getting the grand slam network we’ve been waiting for.

Why LTE networks are like buses

There has been some major developments in the UK LTE market today as the regulator Ofcom announced that it will permit Everything Everywhere (the Orange/T-Mobile merger) to re-farm its 1800MHz spectrum for use with LTE. Ofcom has now issued “varied licences to EE which authorise LTE services from 11 September 2012”, and it has told Telecoms.com that it had plans to launch in “certain key locations in the UK by the end of this year”.

The results – howls of protest from the EE’s UK rivals. Their issue is that as they don’t hold licenses for 1800MHz they will have to wait for next year’s auction, currently set to start at the start of 2013, for the chance to bid for 800MHz and 2600MHz spectrum. This could put them almost a year behind in the LTE marketing stakes.

Ofcom said its decision was because, “delaying doing so would therefore be to the detriment of consumers.”

Vodafone though has said quite the opposite claiming that, “the regulator has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy through its refusal to properly regard the competitive distortion created by allowing one operator to run services before the ground has been laid for a fully competitive 4G market.”

Analysing this, Vodafone is trying to suggest that consumers will be better served by having them wait for everyone to launch at once – which doesn’t really hold up. Certainly EE will have a competitive advantage by offering LTE first as there’s serious pent up demand for LTE. Yes, in the long term, consumers will be able to benefit even more from competition in the market once the rest of the players get hold of spectrum via the auction but undoubtedly they will benefit by having access to it as soon as possible

Of course, it won’t matter who has an LTE network if the devices aren’t there. As Informa’s Principal Analyst Thomas Wehmeier says, “Another critical task that lies ahead for EE will be to convince the world’s leading device manufacturers to build smartphones for their network. You can build the network, but without the right devices the customers cannot and will not come”

On the mobile broadband side, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem as the device eco-system is growing, ZTE is producing 1800MHz dongles for CSL in Hong Kong for example. But on the devices side it’s a bit more limited. In Australia, Telstra is offering the HTC One XL, Velocity, the windows-based Titan 4G, and the Samsung Galaxy SII. However, the flagship Galaxy SIII is not LTE 1800 capable. The other big one of course is the iPhone 5. No one knows what that will support LTE at all, and if it does, at what frequencies, but if 1800 is in there, it will be a massive win for EE. (If not Apple and EE will have to be careful, to avoid the hoopla around the iPad’s 4G incompatibility with European and Australian LTE).

What’s really interesting is this from Informa’s Wehmeier. “The ruling issued today applies to the full chunk of 1800MHz spectrum that Everything Everywhere owns in the UK, including the 2x15MHz that it is being forced to divest as a result of conditions imposed on the Orange-T-Mobile merger by the European Commission. The clarity on the potential use of that spectrum will provide fresh impetus to the sale negotiations with Hutchison 3G (3) the clear favourite to land the spectrum. The sale must be finalised by 30 September 2012 meaning the UK could conceivably see two 4G networks up and running by Christmas.”

So after years being behind the 4G curve we may get two networks at once. It’s a funny old world.

UK LTE finally gets a date

There’s playing hard to get, and then there’s Ofcom and LTE. After a seemingly endless period of delays, the UK regulator has finally announced that it has set a date for the auction of spectrum for 4G services – and that date, according to the Ofcom release is, – “as soon as possible”. The only actual date given is 11 September 2012, which is when consultation on the legal document that outlines the auction rules will close. (Yes, more consultations). After that Ofcom ‘expects’ the auction process to be start before the end of the year with the actual bidding process will take place is early 2012.

Ofcom said it expects the networks to start rolling out from mid-2013 with services live later in the year. So it could be a full year before consumers will actually be using LTE in the UK using this new spectrum. This seems like a long, long wait when the US has been up and running with LTE in a major way since Verizon launched services in December 2010. Across Verizon, AT&T, Metro PCS and U.S. Cellular, the USA now has around 15 million active LTE subscribers. Let’s not forget our friends in Korea – 4G adoption there has already reached 17% of the current mobile user base.

While the US and other parts of the world are clearly taking the lead for LTE, the consensus is that the UK is lagging the rest of Europe. However, when you look closely the rest of the continent isn’t too far ahead. Germany has had LTE since Vodafone launched in mid 2011, but according to Informa WCIS stats as of June 2012 only 0.26% of the country is using LTE. Italy and France has some coverage but subscriber numbers are yet to register. Telia Sonera launched the world’s first LTE network in December 2009, but as of June only 1.66% of its subscribers are using LTE. Placed in that context, the UK is not quite in the 4G backwater that some might think.

In fact, one could consider it beneficial coming late to the LTE party. By the middle of next year consumers will be able to benefit from more mature and more affordable LTE devices, due to improved technology and economies of scale. To take one, rather important example, Apple will have plenty of time to produce an iPhone and iPad with LTE chipset suitable for UK use. Even if LTE in the iPhone 5 isn’t ready for the UKs 800 and 2.6GHz frequencies, the next one certainly will be.

There’s also good news in the one of the 800MHz licences will require indoor coverage of 98% by 2017. This is a clever move, in that Ofcom only has to force one operator to do this, and the others will be likely to follow suit in order to keep up for competitive reasons. Ofcom has also given expected coveage figures of caround 98%. This, rather than speed, could in fact be the killer difference over 3G. Just this weekend I was out in the country, and while there was GPRS coverage, anything beyond patient checking of email was out of the question. If you can travel countrywide and always have the expectation of data access, then the revolution will not be televised – it will be streamed live to your smartphone.

Ofcom’s also decided to reserve some spectrum for a fourth operator, which as it points out might not necessarily be Huthison’s 3. Well, that’s a bit exciting. A bit.

If 3 doesn’t win the spectrum, it seems unlikely that it could continue in the long term in the UK and with fixed line providers such as BT, Virgin and even O2, having a nationwide wifi strategy, they could well have an eye on picking up that LTE spectrum.

Of course there’s still a chance that the UK could see LTE by the end of the year. Everything Everywhere has already submitted its application to launch LTE in the UK by the end of the year using refarmed 1800Mhz spectrum. In response to today’s news it’s released a statement to say: “the auction is only one step towards bringing 4G to Britain. Everything Everywhere is committed to bringing 4G to the UK this year, and the next milestone will be the regulator’s response to our request to roll out 4G over our existing 1800MHz spectrum without further delay.”

So once again, we’re left waiting for Ofcom. We have indeed hit a milestone, there are plenty more to hit, before the UK’s LTE story is anywhere near to properly getting going.

The LTE Asia 2012 conference is taking place on the 8-9 September 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Click here to register your interest.

From Russia with LTE

Have you heard about the one where one of the supposedly leading economies of Europe had its LTE rollout repeatedly delayed much to the frustration of everyone except the lawyers. Yes, it’s called the UK. No you’re right, it’s not funny.

Over here, this week we’ve been looking enviously at Russia that has given out its 800MHz LTE licences with virtually no fuss to its top four network operators – the state-owned Rostelecom and the other big three: MTS, Vimpelcom and MegaFon. They paid exactly nothing for the licences but as part of the deal they are required to spend 15 billion Russian rubles ($457.42m or £296.2m) into network infrastructure each year until 2019. Which doesn’t seem that much compared to the billions that UK networks are required to pay.

Yota is of course already operating there, based on its WiMAX standard but in the process of switching over to LTE using 2.3GHZ, 2.5GHZ and 3.5GHz.

The point is that it’s all go as far as LTE is concerned over there, while over here we seem to be sitting behind what could be described as a virtual iron curtain.

The LTE Asia 2012 conference is taking place on the 8-19 September 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Click here to register your interest.

The blame game

The UK has been waiting a long time for LTE, and according to ED Vaizey, the UK’s communications minister, it’s going to have to wait a fair bit longer. Speaking at the Future Entertainment Summit (FES) in London, he told the delegates that while UK regulator Ofcom was taking the head to the delay, the fault lies at the door of the telecoms companies and their coterie of lawyers who are poised to attack.

Vaizey said that 4G, as LTE is now called, would arrive in 2013/2014, which implies the end of 2013. “”We are not going to clear the spectrum until the end of 2013 and Ofcom needs to go through a massive process [with 4G] as it will get sued by telcos if it doesn’t get it right. So, if you are looking at what is delaying it, it is not Ofcom it is the telecom companies.”

It’s not news to anyone following the UK telecoms industry, but Vaizey’s words have been picked up by a wider audience at the FES event and shown just how much the UK really is being left behind when it comes to mobile communications. LTE is becoming ever more widespread and just today it was announced that O2 has launched LTE in the Czech Republic. I imagine that some visitors to London for the Olympics will be surprised to find that there’s not LTE in London.

It seems the best hope is still the announcement by Everything Everywhere that it would launch by the end of 2012 using its spare 1800MHz capacity, which doesn’t require any of that spectrum clearing. Here’s hoping it goes ahead, and that Ofcom has the cojones to let it happen, regardless of the legal threats.

Good vibrations in the UK: Vodafone and O2 come together

There have been major developments in the UK mobile operator market today with the news that Vodafone and O2, the UK arm of Telefonica, would be coming together and sharing resources in order to build their networks faster.

It’s a direct response, if somewhat delayed, to the threat from Everything Everywhere, a joint venture between Orange (France Telecom) and T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom ), and Three (Hutchison Whampoa). It’s not an entirely new venture, as the two have been sharing some sites since 2009 in a venture called Cornerstone, but this takes it from 4000 sites up to 18,500 masts and towers shared.

It’s not a full joint venture as with Everything Everywhere – customers won’t be able to choose between Vodafone and O2 signals, and the two companies will continue to compete in every other way.

It’s great news.

The two operators claim that this deal will bring 2G and 3G coverage to 98 per cent of the UK population by 2015, finally dealing with the many notspots that continue to plague this not particularly large country.

What’s particularly welcome is that the pair claim that it will enable them to bring 4G,by which we have to assume means LTE, quicker than they would separately. Ofcom, the UK regulator stipulates that there should be 98 per cent coverage of 4G by 2017 so this should help them meet that claim.

Network sharing does seem to be the way forward, especially in these cash strapped town. It simply makes sense from an efficiency point of view. Is there much sense in having the same areas covered by multiple networks by rival network offering essentially the same service.

The two companies said that the consolidation could also enable them to trim the fat and they could shrink the sites they run by 10 per cent.

Speaking at the LTE World Summit last month, Eduardo Duato, CTO at Orange Spain said as much, pointing out that while the US makes do with just four major networks, Europe, roughly the same size land mass, has over 100. He called on his local regulators and all those across Europe to support operator’s sharing prospects. “It doesn’t make sense to have this many networks [in Europe]” he said “we have to move to LTE network sharing.”

Vodafone and O2 seem to agree with him.

The move will mean that there will essentially two networks running in the UK – the MBNL network that powers Everything Everywhere and 3, and the extended Cornerstone network of Vodafone and O2.

So what do we have here then? Intelligent combining of resources, offering the potential for much improved coverage and accelerated roll out of next gen LTE services, and all with some extra cost cutting thrown in.

It all sounds alarmingly, well, sensible. At this rate, we could have operators making money and even satisfied customers.

Crazy times.

LTE everywhere, but not a drop to drink

The LTE World Summit 2012 finished earlier this week, and by and large it was a great success – with the great and the good of the mobile industry interested in LTE (which is pretty much everyone), attending in some form or another.

While it was a success an issue did crop up was that while wifi was available in the exhibition hall, it was not freely available in he Plenary. For anyone who enjoys tweeting this is something of an issue. Tweeting is a spontaneous art form, and once you’ve memorised what you want to say, left the room, gone down two floors, gone into the exhibition hall and waiting for your phone, your tweet may well have gone stale.

Fundamentally, the root cause of the issue is one that strikes at the heart of the issues that the conference was addressing – that I could not tweet as I refused to turn on my data connection for fear of the outrageous roaming charges. There has been movement in this area – the EU has recommended caps on reducing charges and O2 has responded by announcing rates much lower than there – but they won’t kick on until July this year. (I’m on Giffgaff, an o2 (Telefonica) MNVO, so we’ll see if this gets passed on).

Wifi offload was also one of the big topics of conversation at the conference and while interference from multiple hotspots was not an issue, congestion from too many requests was – highlighting one of that technology’s drawbacks.

What we’re all dreaming of is to be able to use our phones abroad as we would at home – on fast, effective LTE networks. That’s the vision we’re all driving towards. Of course if we were already there – living the dream, or at least, tweeting the dream, they’d probably be no need for an LTE conference in the first place, which would just not do at all. As such, I’m looking forward to great LTE coverage at affordable prices – at the 5G conference coming your way soon.

LTE’s virtuous circle: LTE to go mass market in 2012?

Arne Schälicke, LTE Product Marketing, Nokia Siemens Networks

This is a guest post from Arne Schälicke, LTE Product Marketing, Nokia Siemens Networks on the growth of the LTE eco-system and the work that NSN is putting it to make it happen.

That fact that the annual LTE World Summit has recently established itself among the top events in the sector has really underlined the importance of LTE in our industry. It’s also a good opportunity to reflect about the LTE market development that we have seen over the recent years.

By April 2012 there were 64 commercially launched LTE networks, 70 per cent more than a year earlier. The last year has also seen the commercial launches of the first TD-LTE networks. The global adoption of both FDD LTE and TD-LTE is not a vision anymore, it’s a fact. Global scale fosters the development of the device ecosystem, which in turn drives subscriber figures. The LTE virtuous circle has accelerated.

The arrival of multiband/multimode USB dongles has enabled operators to migrate their mobile broadband large screen customers to LTE. Subscribers benefit from faster average throughputs and shorter latency times, while the operators can offload their 3G networks, apply new tariffs and hence optimise their ARPU.

For all the aforementioned reasons, LTE data services have started to expand from the premium high-price segment to mid- and entry-level segments, with some operators having already introduced prepaid packages. Also, some international data roaming packages have been introduced, e.g. by TeliaSonera, who launched commercial LTE services more than three years and now provides LTE in many Northern European and Baltic countries.

The launch of LTE smartphones and tablets has since then accelerated subscriber growth tremendously. The publicly available data from NTT DoCoMo, Japan, shows an acceleration of roughly 300 per cent in monthly subscriber uptake following the introduction of LTE smartphones and tablets in autumn 2011. By April 2012, three operators in the US, Japan and Korea had reported more than two million LTE subscribers. LG U+ in Korea has reached an LTE penetration of more than 20 per cent of its total subscriber base.

In short, in 2012 LTE is becoming mass market.

What does the market success of LTE mean for Nokia Siemens Networks? As specialist in mobile broadband, we have been at the forefront of the LTE and TD-LTE commercialisation since the very beginning. Through our partnerships with the leading LTE operators in advanced markets like Northern Europe, Japan and Korea, we have continuously evolved our commercial LTE network systems to deliver superior throughput and lowest latency times in networks.

With a TD-LTE end-to-end solution, including the complete network infrastructure, services and TD-LTE data devices, we have enabled SKY, the largest satellite pay-TV operator in Brazil, to not only enter the local wireless broadband market, but to also be the first to launch commercial 4G services in Latin America. For operators with existing 1800MHz GSM networks we have commercially introduced concurrent operation of GSM and LTE on the same base station hardware module. Telia Denmark uses our concurrent-mode GSM/LTE technology nationwide and has repeatedly been praised for having the best 4G network in the country.

As the LTE market evolves further so are the LTE offerings of Nokia Siemens Networks. Pushing speeds ever higher we have demonstrated LTE-Advanced with data rates exceeding 1.4Gbps using aggregated spectrum of 100MHz on the commercial Flexi Multiradio 10 base station platform.

With increasing LTE smartphone penetration rates and growing LTE network coverage 2012 is also a significant year of VoLTE, with operators like LG U+, Korea, having already announced their VoLTE plans for this year.

And then, as the LTE World Summit 2012 agenda underlines nicely, small cells will play a key role in complementing macro networks to bring better coverage and capacity boost to areas of high demands. Clusters of small cells can provide the capacity needed in mobile broadband network hot zones. With our highly acclaimed Flexi Zone small cell solution, we are proposing a revolutionary new small cell cluster architecture that ensures  small cell capacity really adds to the macro network and does not “tax” the operator’s TCO.

New iPad: More Fuel for the Signalling Storm

Doug Suriano, CTO of Tekelec

In the third of our series of guest blog posts, Doug Suriano, CTO of Tekelec explains the need for operators to quickly get a handle on the increase in signalling on their networks.

The third-generation iPad was one of the strongest iPad debuts yet. Pre-orders sold out before a single tablet had been shipped, and predictably lines were out the door when the device hit the shelves.

As the first LTE-enabled iPad, this product will have a huge impact on North American LTE operators, and likewise for operators in markets where LTE will soon be deployed, in a way few have considered. Mobile operators face a dual threat to network performance, customer loyalty and profitability models. The first is the well-documented growth in the volume of mobile data traffic. The second is equally critical: a ‘signalling storm’ caused by the cumulative impact of connected device and application growth, personalised service plans, and an increasingly mobile subscriber base.

The Diameter signalling traffic is the new challenge

With LTE on board, the iPad 3 is more enticing that ever for HD video, over-the-top services such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as a wide variety of data-heavy consumer and business applications. However, the rise in mobile data traffic will not be operators’ primary problem. They have been aggressively addressing data capacity for years with strategies such as migration to 3G and LTE, policy control and offloading traffic to Wi-Fi.

With LTE, operators will need to handle network signalling messages. Signalling is the underlying communications that enables charging, billing, user authentication and authorisation. These essential messages support data activity over 3G and LTE networks. The impact of network signaling, however, has gone largely unreported.

The new iPad is what I consider to be the first widely available ‘iconic’ LTE device. By virtue of its popularity, features and applications, it will escalate the volume of network signaling on LTE networks to new levels. Also, as sales increase, usage will occur outside of LTE coverage spots. Each time a subscriber moves to or from an LTE coverage area, the new iPad will register on the correct network technology, introducing a new type of signaling to the tablet market.

Mobile data usage has led to an explosion in signalling traffic generated by billions of connected devices and apps. Subscribers often use multiple applications simultaneously, requiring networks to track data usage more frequently for billing purposes. In fact, one large tier one customer told us that the number of concurrent sessions per subscriber, a measure of the number of separate mobile data activities, has increased 50 per cent in the last year.

We expect that number to increase by at least another 50 per cent in the next year, due to the LTE iPad and the expected arrival of the several new LTE smartphones. These devices increase the appeal and use of the mobile Internet and expand the number of subscribers using mobile applications.

Recent network outages serve as a reminder that a rapid growth in subscribers, devices and applications is causing a ‘signaling storm’ for operators. For most operators in developed markets, signaling traffic growth is exceeding data traffic growth.

The good news is that mobile operators can manage the signalling surge by implementing equipment based on a protocol called Diameter. This is the language that the major core and control elements in the LTE network use to communicate. By routing Diameter signalling messages more intelligently and efficiently, operators can bolster network performance; improve subscribers’ quality of experience and scale for the millions of new devices that will populate their LTE networks.

The LTE World Summit is taking place on the 23-24 May 2012 CCIB, Barcelona, Spain. Click here to register your http://ws.lteconference.com/interest.

LTE, today, tomorrow: when should operators commit?

This is the first in a series of guest blogs from significant voices in the industry with something to say about LTE. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Lyn Cantor is president of Tektronix Communications, a provider of service assurance solutions to global operators.

There’s no doubt that demand for data is driving the network carrier market, but while LTE networks will become more pervasive over the next decade they will not all launch at once.  However, while individual carriers have entirely different market environments to cope with the shift in the market has already begun.

In fact, this year promises to be a watershed for LTE. A recent forecast from Juniper Research estimates that the number of LTE subscribers will reach 428 million by 2016; with a surge in growth taking place in 2012.Many wireless operators are taking stock of the economic and competitive environment in their respective markets and considering their LTE roll-out options. It may no longer be a case of ‘if’ an operator will launch an LTE network, but ‘when’.

The development of LTE in global markets will vary according to specific local market factors in addition to an operator’s ability to deliver data efficiently. Operators will make their move when there is a firm business case to do so, prompted by one of at least three possible scenarios.

The first is that an operator’s growth potential is crippled by the existing networks’ ability to cope with traffic demands. The second is that a rival launches LTE early to create the perception that it is leading the market. Third, there is the scenario where an incumbent operator, or new player, decides to adopt an entirely new ‘data driven’ business model.

Looking at LTE regionally, you can see that the U.S. market has taken the lead. The U.S. has enjoyed a head start with LTE because the operators have had to meet the demand for wireless data access, driven by the proliferation of new smart devices, and the need to reduce the cost of mobile broadband delivery. By way of contrast, in Europe, the operators have made a significant investment in 3G. These networks are at an advanced stage and the lack of major LTE deployments has resulted in less pressure to commit extensively to LTE. These factors, combined with spectrum allocation, will lead to a different rate of LTE expansion in Europe.

Operators now recognise the economic realities of LTE. As a result their mind-sets are switching from being a traditional voice and messaging provider to that of a mobile broadband supplier, providing, voice, messaging and data. They now appreciate the challenge they face in monitoring the volume of traffic flowing across their networks – and the ability to monetise that data as bandwidth increases. This will allow operators to cut their cloth accordingly; distinguishing between heavy users and more mainstream traffic, to expand their businesses to meet and sustain market demand going forward.

The opportunities, and potential barriers, which determine the switch to LTE are diverse and vary from region to region. However, one thing is certain. All operators will need to make the jump to LTE to deliver voice, messaging and data to a new breed of consumer.

For more debate on LTE, be sure to attend the LTE World Summit, taking place on the 23-24 May 2012 CCIB, Barcelona, Spain. Click here to register your interest.

Wishing on an LTE star: LTE in the UK finally on its way

For a couple of years, any mention of holiday in the LTE blogger’s house brings the same question from the kids: “are we going to Disneyland?” So far, their hopes have been dashed and they have had to instead listen to their friends having all the fun. Once again, this year we’re not going to Disneyland. Actually, we’re going to Norfolk. No, it’s not the same.

It’s a little like LTE in the UK (bear with me on this). Do we have LTE yet, some ask? No, we don’t, and we’ve had to look on enviously as those in the US, and some places such as Sweden, Norway and Germany, have had faster data available to them. It certainly came as a shock to those who didn’t realise that the new iPad’s 4G LTE was not and would never be, compatible in the UK.

Excitingly though, things could be very different by the end of the year. I predict an LTE iPhone, and Android alternatives too, and networks to run them on too.

The signs are good. We’ve got the auctions set up for early next year with spectrum in the 800MHZ and 2.6GHz frequency ranges up for grabs. But what’s this? Everything Everywhere, the UK joint venture between Orange (France Telecom) and T-Mobile UK (T-Mobile), has some spare 1800MHz spectrum lying around? And it wants to use this for a live, actual, real-life network in the UK by the end of 2012? OK. I’ll have some of that.

Exciting as that is, just today I talked to UK Broadband CTO Philip Marnick who told me that come September, the UK subsidiary of Hong Kong’s PCCW plans to have the first commercial network in the country live by September 2012. Admittedly its LTE coverage will be limited to small areas of South London, and a trial area in Reading, but it’s still pretty exciting. LTE in the UK is starting to actually happen.

In addition, this week France Telecom said that it was committed to bringing LTE to ten countries across Europe by 2015 (including its commitment in the UK under the Everything Everywhere brand). That means that by the time we actually do get to Disneyland Paris, they’ll be LTE there too. Double win.

As far as the Everything Everywhere announcement goes it has so far met with the UK regulator Ofcom’s approval, much to the consternation of the other networks, who argue that it goes against Ofcoms’s stated aim of promoting fair UK LTE competition by letting one of them go first. You can understand their viewpoint, but what could spur competition more than the other networks knowing they need to get their LTE houses in order as quickly as possible in order to get themselves competitive?

It might not be in their interest but I think it could be for the UK consumer. The punter gets a national LTE option early, and prices can come down quickly as soon as other others get in the game.

When that happens we’ll no longer be lumbered with the frankly Mickey Mouse 3G networks we rather goofily think of now as mobile broadband and instead be quickly transported to the magic kingdom of LTE.

Philip Marnick from UK Broadband will be speaking at the LTE World Summit is taking place on the 23-24 May 2012 CCIB, Barcelona, Spain. Click here to register your interest.

What’s the LTE frequency Mavis?

So the Apple hoopla is now over and, well, OK, it’s not over at all, but now that the new iPad has finally been unveiled the agonising pent up expectation has been dealt with and we can start to get on with our lives.

Looking at the specs, a few things of note occur. The HD display was, of course what this release was all about in the main, and it does sound like an amazing achievement. More resolution than a Full HD TV in a small 9.7in space will make for incredibly sharp, vibrant and clear images. Eventually it will Make Things Better, as web site designers, photographers and app designers realise they need to improve the visual quality of everything they do for fear of the new iPad display laying bare their flaws.

The next issue is the name. It appears to be officially called, ‘the new iPad’. Really? Facepalm.

The first iPad was called the iPad. The second iPad was called the iPad 2. So naturally the third is called… the new iPad. This sort of thing makes me a bit cross. Could we not just avoid confusion and called it the iPad 3? Would iPad HD have been too terrible? (Update: @ianbetteridge points out that it’s actually just called: iPad. Still, point stands.)

One tech journo wag on Twitter wrote, “I’ve given it some thought and I refuse to call it “New iPad”. No. I’d rather call it Glen, Tina or Gregg Jevins.” I’d be included to agree, though I’m leaning towards Mavis. Mavis it is then.

Another thing Mavis doesn’t have is the Senseg textured feel tech that some tech journos were getting very lathered up about yesterday. And because it’s not there we shall not speak of it again.

We also get a much improved 5-megapixel camera with 1080p recording, which is nice. This no doubt – will be putting further strain on network if pictures and videos are sent uncompressed.

Which brings us to LTE. Yesterday I said that the iPad, sorry, Mavis, might come out in two flavours – one regular 3G and one LTE enabled one for North America. I was wrong, amazingly. In fact, there’s one world LTE enabled Mavis, though outside of the US in terms of LTE, it’s as useful as a chocolate teapot.

This is because it’s only compatible with both the 700MHz bands used in the US by AT&T and Verizon. It also has LTE 2100, which is Big in Japan, and Nigeria. Great.

This means that when LTE networks become widespread in Europe, this iPad will simply not work with them. Europe is in the main going to use three main frequencies for LTE: – 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz, so it will require a new chipset that supports those for European users to get LTE Mavis joy. It works the other way too – US users coming here will have to drop down to 3G. In the promotional video for Mavis, Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of hardware engineering says that it “works with more mobile bands than every mobile device ever.” Assuming this is true, it’s impressive but Apple needs to up the count even further for the next one. Not that it will be so terrible having to drop down to 3G, as the Mavis now supports HSPA+ and DC-HSPA (21Mbps and 42Mbps respectively and these are theoretical maximums; also known as ‘in your dreams’.

On an iPad, sorry Mavis, it’s less of an issue as wi-fi only tablets version tend to be popular, and that might be the safest route for now, and you can always tether to a mifi or smartphone.

The question then is if a newer LTE chipset will be ready by the time the iPhone 5 launches. If not, it will be more of an issue, as then Europe would effectively be stuck without LTE until the iPhone 6! I know, it barely bares thinking about.

(Picture is ‘borrowed’ from Nate Lanxon’s spiffing hands-on preview at Wired.co.uk.

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For more LTE terminal device discussions be sure to book your place at the LTE World Summit taking place on the 23-24 May 2012 CCIB, Barcelona, Spain.