The wireless industry migrates to Las Vegas this week for CTIA’s Super Mobility Week, featuring keynote sessions with industry heavyweights including FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead and AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions CEO Ralph de la Vega. The keynote topics suggest that mobile video and the connected car will be two key themes this year, but there will be many others permeating the exhibit hall and meeting rooms.
LTE-Advanced will almost certainly be a key theme at Super Mobility Week. “LTE-Advanced is no longer a future technology. It offers operators the opportunity to deploy many new network architecture innovations today,” said analyst Berge Ayvazian, conference chair and senior analyst at UBM Tech. “LTE-Advanced is now commercial on 20 networks in 15 countries including AT&T and Sprint in the U.S. 4G Americas expects to see 40 or more commercial LTE-Advanced networks by the end of this year.”
Nokia Networks just announced its WiMAX to TD-LTE-A solution. This week we can expect to see more announcements around the technologies that enable LTE-A, including carrier aggregation, self-organizing networks, and advanced MIMO antenna systems.
With LTE deployments hitting critical mass in North America, many operators are now focusing on monetizing their investments in 4G networks. Service innovation and the use of software to leverage existing hardware are sure to be key themes at Super Mobility Week.
The Tower and Small Cell Summit will see a lot of activity this week, with at least two major equipment vendors planning new small cell announcements. Expect indoor small cells to continue to see more investment than outdoor solutions. DAS announcements are also likely to focus on indoor solutions, although Verizon Wireless has recently signaled a commitment to outdoor DAS.
