The GSMA, the world organization that oversees the GSM cellular standard, made yesterday a pair of announcements which speak to the end of a US cellular industry divided between CDMA and GSM technologies: Verizon Wireless has joined the GSMA in support of the 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and the GSMA has adopted a voice and messaging standard supported by dozens of hardware makers.
“LTE is set to out-perform most of today’s fixed-line broadband networks by delivering very fast, highly responsive mobile voice and data services with peak rate speeds of up to 100Mbs downlink and 50Mbs uplink,” the GSMA says. “LTE was developed to enable a significant increase in the bandwidth achievable over mobile networks, while also boosting network capacity and reducing latency.”
“LTE is designed to be interoperable with widely-used global technologies such as GPRS, WCDMA and HSPA, building on the all-pervasive international roaming capabilities available today. This will allow mobile operators deploying LTE to provide a seamless service and multi-mode devices for their customers, who will benefit from using high-speed mobile internet to surf the web or download applications wherever they are on a wide range of devices.”
Built as an extension to the GSM-based UMTS 3G radio technology in use by AT&T and T-Mobile, LTE is an easy step for these carriers to make. CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, however, won’t have such an easy time making the switch, as CDMA and GSM cellular technologies are mutually incompatible.
Even so, Verizon has pledged to support LTE technology and has signed on with the GSMA to help finalize the standard. This will be a major boon for the wireless industry in the United States, as three of the four major carriers will finally be operating on the same wireless standard (Sprint has stubbornly elected seal its fate with WiMax). This will mirror the global state of the wireless industry, which has already begun a shift to LTE in cities like Oslo and Stockholm. Putting everyone on both sides of the pond on the same wireless technology should not only broaden the carrier availability of high-end smartphones, but should also accelerate their time to market.
The second major hurdle for the finalization of the LTE standard was how to best implement voice and messaging. Primarily designed to handle mobile broadband data, there has been an ongoing debate as to how texting and actual calls would operate on an LTE network. That issue appears to have been resolved yesterday with the GSMA’s announcement that it has adopted the One Voice Initiative.
The One Voice Initiative is a collaboration between AT&T, Orange, Telefónica, TeliaSonera, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Samsung and Sony Ericsson that uses current open standards to define the minimum mandatory set of functionality for interoperable IP multimedia system-based voice and SMS over LTE. In GSMA parlance, the OVI is now called Voice Over LTE, or VoLTE.
“The GSMA recognises the importance of a single, industry-wide solution for voice over LTE and by adopting the work of the One Voice Initiative, we will advance the creation of a global, next-generation wireless ecosystem,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at the GSMA.
“With the support of the world’s leading players in mobile, VoLTE will generate economies of scale similar to those provided through the ubiquitous availability of GSM-based networks and devices. As mobile operators begin to deploy LTE, it is essential their networks are aligned around one, common standard for voice and messaging services, for the benefit of the mobile industry and consumers alike.”
With the adoption of a unified voice standard, and the United States’ largest carriers aboard the LTE train, AT&T and Verizon have already begun isolated LTE trials. Full migration to LTE, meanwhile, should begin in major cities by the end of 2010, with a nationwide rollout complete by 2015.
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