LTE vs WiMAX in Asia Pacific
TelecomAsia recently reported in Asia Pacific there were 55 LTE networks in these categories compared to 25 mobile WiMAX networks in 1Q09, although mobile WiMAX had the clear advantage of 12 networks in service compared to zero for LTE, according to Informa Telecoms & Media research. In addition, including fixed WiMAX there were 71 total WiMAX networks in Asia Pacific in these categories in 1Q09, with 40 of those in service.
WiMAX continues to build momentum globally, with 456 WiMAX networks worldwide either in service, in deployment or planned at the end of March 2009, a 53% increase from 299 networks in the same categories in March 2008. But the number of operators worldwide planning LTE deployments has also increased sharply in the last year, from a handful in 1Q08 to 119 operators in 1Q09 with LTE networks either planned or in deployment. Another 43 operators have LTE licenses or are positioning for LTE licenses, taking the number of likely LTE networks to 162.
This means LTE networks – albeit all of them are planned or in deployment rather than live – have already passed mobile WiMAX 802.16e networks, which stood at 129 in 1Q09. The other 366 WiMAX networks were based largely on fixed WiMAX 802.16d-2004.
WiMAX of course has a head-start of several years on LTE, which has given WiMAX the distinct advantage of 291 live networks as of 1Q09, with 68 of those based on mobile WiMAX, compared to zero for LTE.
The bottom line is that LTE is increasingly likely to dominate the next-gen mobile broadband market, based on an analysis of operator 4G network deployment plans and current mobile broadband subscribers by technology, but mobile WiMAX can still play a significant role. The sooner it moves on from the fight with LTE and focuses on its strengths in the wireless broadband market, the larger that role will be.
In the meantime, while WiMAX and LTE sport technical similarities on the RAN side with OFDMA, they’re less likely to come together in the core any time so on.
Asked if the industry might see structural separation for WiMAX and LTE, with branded RANs connected to a common LTE/SAE core, Garth Collier,Intel’s Asia/Japan MD for WiMAX, said the WiMAX Forum isn’t really looking at it, and plans to have end-to-end certification for WiMAX ready in the next 12 months.
Takehiro Nakamura, director of NTT DoCoMo’s radio system group and chairman of 3GPP TSG-RAN, said that the 3GPP has been discussing interworking between LTE and Wi-Fi, which could also include WiMAX.
But, he added, “the status so far is not that good. It could happen in the future but it depends on deployments from operators.”
Recently at CommunicAsia 2009 LG demonstrated the world’s first handset modem chip based on LTE technology. It is nearly 10 times faster than the fastest 3G HSDPA handsets available today and LG will show how this chip can be used to simultaneously download four HD-quality videos and play them back in real-time.
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