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AT&T reiterates: LTE a long way off
AT&T reiterated its position Wednesday at the 4G Executive Summit in Chicago that its HSPA and HSPA-plus 3G network technology still had a lot of life left in it, and that Long-term Evolution (LTE) technology would not be rolled out for at least another three years--and probably not on a large commercial scale for another five years.
Hank Kafka, AT&T's VP of architecture, said it was unlikely that LTE would be seen on a wide basis for some time to come, and that AT&T has "a lot of runway left" with HSPA and HSPA-plus data speeds. LTE technology is theoretically capable of data speeds of up to 170 Mbps.
Kafka also offered a cutting critique of Sprint's Xohm mobile WiMAX technology, which launched this week, called it a "niche technology," and said it was not a true 4G standard.
For more:
- see this article
Related articles:
3G Americas: HSPA today, LTE tomorrow
Mobile industry pushes LTE
Comments (5) | Post a comment
Comments
Posted by MobileStack | October 2, 2008 - 11:40am
I agree with Hank Kafta of AT&T.
LTE will NOT be ready for prime time anytime soon. In LTE architecture, 3GPP has "removed" RNC node to create a distributed RNC architecture.
This change "alone" will delay LTE readyness for prime-time by 2 years.
It is NOT easy to stabilize distributed-RNC architecture without gaining large scale FOA testing and tuning architecture and design based on lessons from it.
Thx, -Praveen, MobileStack
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2008 - 8:46am
I disagree with the timeframe. I think ATT is playing for time here and trying to catch-up as they were surprised by the early commitment to LTE from Verizon and are now rushing internally to get up to speed. Small scale tech trials are starting Q1 next year. 1st form factor terminals Q1 next year too.
Posted by Anonymous | November 6, 2008 - 11:26am
Just like WiMax, LTE technology will target the Laptop market first and move on to smart phones and eventually to regular phones. In order for LTE to reach mainstream phones, it would take 5 years. For laptop and smartphones, it may take anywhere between 2 years to 3.5 years.
-4G Chipset startup -
Posted by Quemann | November 7, 2008 - 11:33pm
To Kafka, WiMAX seems like a 'niche' technology 'cause Sprint and Clearwire are currently positioned in the niche. It shows Kafka can see only as far as his limited knowledge permits. I'll bet LTE will be integrated into WiMAX before it comes on the market, either in 2012 or 2015 or 2020. Even Vodafone wants it that way.
We'll see what happens to AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, when WiMAX will have been fully deployed nationwide in another 12 months.
T-Mobile G1 will end up a sort of guinea pig for Android since Google wants Android to take center state in 4G, not in 3G or HSPA or HSPA+.
Posted by Anonymous | November 14, 2008 - 3:31pm
In the US market, Sprint/CLWR are looking to leapfrog VZW & ATT with WiMAX (and that oh so beautiful 100MHz of 2.5 spectrum). Let's be straight here, ATT doesn't even have 3G deployed fully (UMTS = 2.5G, HSPA = 3G) nor the spectrum to offer services. iPhone 3G has shown how hit/miss ATT "3G" is. VZW will use LTE as a marketing gimmic for at least 2 years, with minimal deployments.
It's going to be a VERY interesting next couple of years and a boon for customer choices (much to the dismay of ATT & VZW).
-WiMAX Convert (I've used it in Baltimore - It's wicked fast - acts like my home DSL at 5mbps)
