Long term evolution (LTE) technology is taking shape in Africa and becoming the next big evolution in communication technology, taking us from 3G to 4G, says head of business development at Jasco, Eckart Zollner.
"The experience is, in an all-LTE world, 'all IP, all the time' with throughput of up to 100Mbps. The LTE user is always connected wirelessly to fast, responsive, reliable data, broadcast-quality video content and services, and now also voice over IP," states Zollner. "But that world is three to five years away. There are key challenges in this evolution to LTE for South Africa, Africa and globally. There are also some landmark advances."
Zollner adds that, according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), there are currently 274 commercially launched LTE networks in 101 countries, and 456 LTE network commitments in 135 countries, with more than 1 240 LTE-ready devices - smartphones, tablets, modems - unveiled.
"Yet LTE services today only make up a fraction of mobile services. Of the 5.976 billion mobile subscriptions globally in Q3, 2013, only 157.7 million were LTE subscriptions says Informa Telecoms & Media research. The 65% LTE coverage envisioned by 2019 (an Ericsson prediction) seems a long way away," explains Zollner.
The greatest challenges in the roll-out of LTE, he says, reside in bringing together all the components that make up the LTE ecosystem - the LTE-enabled devices, the new hardware that makes up the LTE networks (radio, backhaul and core), the applications, and possibly the most critical part - the operational support systems and services.
"Key challenges to the roll-out of LTE are spectrum allocation delays, capital costs associated with the establishment of LTE networks, the LTE-readiness of devices, user awareness of LTE services, and core network capabilities, observes Zollner.
"Globally, numerous operators have adopted LTE, aggressively marketing these services. In South Africa, all the major network providers have rolled out LTE commercially, albeit only in key metropolitan areas."
According to Zollner, the slow rollout is thanks to two key issues; the readiness of handsets and failure of regulators to free up spectrum in the lower frequency bands - 800MHz, 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz.
"At present, only high-end smartphones are LTE-enabled, which limits user adoption. LTE chipsets that are needed for handsets are still expensive but are set to reduce in cost drastically over the next three to five years," he says. "Failure of regulators to allocate spectrum for LTE is also seeing network providers cannibalise existing networks to launch LTE offerings. In many instances spectrum is just not being freed up. In South Africa, for example, the switch to digital broadcasting is a year late, with analogue broadcasters still occupying the 800Mhz spectrum."
Zollner predicts that LTE is going to be particularly beneficial in Africa with its low fixed line infrastructure build out and high population densities, offering network operators greater reach and affordability. LTE is an ideally suitable technology for last mile broadband connectivity.
"Many partnering alliances are already in place, with sharing of LTE transmission technologies and fibre backbones occurring as larger operators upgrade to LTE and extend the fibre networks that facilitate access between towers and to international bandwidth via various undersea cables."
In addition, he holds the view that a number of experienced solution providers are now providing LTE solutions and doing system integration, offering a one-stop plan-design-deploy-commission service, and bringing finance to the table. This makes it easy for operators to introduce LTE services.
"LTE will gain momentum with spectrum allocation providing a great boost to roll-out of networks. Within three years, a tipping point is expected to have been reached. While operators will continue to maximise return on existing 3G and other networks, the migration to LTE will be in full swing by 2017," concludes Zollner.
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