South Africans who rush out to acquire new long-term evolution (LTE) devices will find themselves unable to connect to the high-speed network when crossing borders.
Globally, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has earmarked around 36 different frequency bands for LTE, and every mobile operator in each country rolls out the latest in mobile technology in its own selected range.
Locally, Vodacom and MTN have chosen to re-farm spectrum in the 1 800MHz band and are rolling out the new network and making devices available that can work in these frequencies. Cell C is also rolling out LTE.
However, not every country is working in the same frequency; the US operates in 700MHz, while Australia uses 1 800MHz.
The lack of a global standard for LTE has already led to a legal wrangle. Apple was recently fined $2.29 million by an Australian court after it was accused by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of telling consumers its new iPad was compatible with a 4G mobile data network when it was not.
Reuters reports that the court ruled that Apple implied "that an iPad with WiFi + 4G could connect directly to the Telstra LTE mobile data network in Australia, which it could not do". Apple offered to refund buyers and post a warning on the site that the devices were not compatible in Australia.
Stay at home
LTE offers speeds of around double the current fastest network in SA. However, Department of Communications' technical advisor, Roy Kruger, explains there is no global LTE standard, which is a "huge problem" when people go across borders as they cannot roam on LTE.
Kruger says the ITU has indicated there are 36 frequency bands globally that can work with LTE, but there is not one single standard.
While handset makers are coming out with multi-frequency devices, such as Nokia's Lumia 920, there are currently not many of these available, notes Kruger. He says the device ecosystem will in time catch up and people will be able to buy different multi-frequency handsets, but there is no indication as to when this will happen.
Stepping back down
Depending on the spectrum available, live LTE networks can deliver very fast data speeds of up to 100Mbps in the downlink and 50Mbps in the uplink, the GSM Association explains. The technology is designed to be backwards-compatible with GSM and HSPA, it adds.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says although LTE is intended to be backward-compatible with 3G, as well as 2G, some implementations will not necessarily stick to the ITU specifications.
Richard Hurst, Ovum's emerging markets analyst, says the current issue with LTE is not only a lack of desired spectrum, but also a small ecosystem of devices.
However, Hurst expects LTE to be rolled out faster than was the case with 3G, so the market should expand quickly. He says the issues around a lack of devices and other problems are "bugs that will iron themselves out as the ecosystem develops".
Gearing up
The Global mobile Suppliers' Association (GSA) recently said 360 operators in 94 countries are investing in LTE, a figure which is 45% higher than a year ago. So far, 113 operators have launched commercial LTE networks in 51 countries.
A further 195 commercial network deployments are in progress. GSA forecasts that 209 networks will be commercially launched in 75 countries by the end of 2013.
A recent presentation by Halina Uryga, Orange's deputy director of spectrum, indicated LTE can be deployed in any of a wide variety of different spectrum bands; however, 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz are likely to be the most common choices.
Uryga pointed out that Europe is rolling out in the 800MHz digital dividend, while the US is using 700MHz, and there is deployment in 2.6GHz. Some operators are also re-farming spectrum in several bands, including 850MHz, 900MHz, 1 800MHz, 1 900MHz and 2 100MHz.
In addition, there is new LTE spectrum at 3.6GHz, although - in Europe and Asia - space in 2.6GHz has emerged as the key preferred LTE spectrum for crowded areas, noted Uryga.
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