AT&T has a lot of ‘runway’ left with HSPA
Exec: LTE will fit in
October 1 2008 - 12:00 pm ET | Allie Winter | RCR Wireless News
CHICAGO — Even as AT&T Mobility Inc. touted its decision to deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology for its fourth-generation network, the carrier is confident it can tweak its HSPA network to increase speeds gradually, without having to rush to build out a 4G system.
Speaking at yesterday’s 4G Executive Summit, AT&T’s Hank Kafka, VP of Architecture, said the service provider won’t have to wait for a broad deployment of LTE to provide decent broadband coverage to its customers because the carrier can build on its extensive GSM-based ecosystem.
“We’re not starting from scratch,” he said. “GSM can build from the existing base. … It’s clear that LTE will fit neatly in that ecosystem.”
Kafka enforced his confidence in the transition to LTE based on the confidence AT&T Mobility has in its HSPA network, saying that it is truly and simply mobile broadband today. The introduction of the 3G iPhone at AT&T Mobility has made a huge impact in showing people how to use handsets to connect to the Internet, but it’s just the beginning of wireless broadband, Kafka said. “Now we’re on the verge of that creativity being unleashed,” he said, referring to a similar tipping point in the evolution of the Internet.
Kafka went on to take a jab at its unnamed CDMA competitor (presumably Verizon Wireless), which uses EV-DO technology, noting it has limited future. Verizon Wireless has announced it plans to deploy LTE for its fourth-generation network.
To push his point, Kafka displayed charts and statistics that identify 700 HSPA devices on the market, produced by 116 manufacturers with a 150% annual growth rate. “HSPA is more economical for carriers to deploy,” he said. “It requires fewer sites than WiMAX. The extendibility of HSPA gives the ability to smoothly go to the new technology.”
As for WiMAX, Kafka said: “Mobile WiMAX is expected to remain a niche technology.”
When questioned about 4G specifics, Kafka danced around the question, saying that requirements have yet to be defined. In regards to the show floor here in Chicago, Kafka said if people are seeing the phrase “4G” bandied about, it’s only because marketing employees are doing their jobs.
“Future evolutions may meet 4G requirements, but for now, true 4G technologies don’t exist because the requirements haven’t been defined,” he said.
WiMAX, ever dependent on its time-to-market advantage, will be able to try to meet those requirements first. Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Xohm service launched in Baltimore Monday. The carrier is offering two devices, the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Express card for laptop computers at $60 and a Zyxel desktop modem for $80. Sprint Nextel said both devices will provide download speeds of between 2 and 4 megabits per second, roughly twice the speed provided by existing cellular-based data services.
AT&T’s Kafka said he’d be surprised if LTE wasn’t significantly available within five years. In the meantime, two to three years out, Kafka said AT&T Mobility “has a lot of runway left with HSPA and HSPA-plus.”
November 6, 2008 10:13 am
Sounds to me like AT&T is just trying to get an ROI longer than 3 years from at least ONE of their Network decisions. TDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE and now HSPA. They must have a permament account on EBay to move all the old Network gear!
October 8, 2008 06:18 am
Hey, RFguy, have you actually seen the sites in Orlando? I have, and I would not call it a "sound" design. Anybody who knows CDMA (yes, UMTS/HSPA is CDMA based) optimization would know that. C'mon, things like 240' with 80 degree antennas in Oviedo is just nuts. I guess you were thinking of another carrier, like T-mobile, who has had a BETTER performing EDGE network in Orlando than AT&T, and is about to launch a better performing HSPA network as well!
October 3, 2008 06:28 am
AT&T uses a sound design to maximize the performance of the 2G & 3G networks (GSM & UMTS). RF is RF. AT&T can downtilt each band independently (850 & 1900). The main goal of downtilting is to reduce Noise/interference. By improving 3G, you improve 2G by reducing the interference from another site. Downtilting controls the footprint of the site and with proper design, Noise and interference is reduce on both technologies giving a higher quality of voice service and improved data rates. Bottom line, FM radio is FM radio regardless of technology. There is a reason why Verizon is getting nervous with the competition in Orlando.
October 2, 2008 08:35 am
I Hate AT&T, The market Wrong was talking about is Orlando, specifically. I can attest to the mess that they call an antenna system in that market. I watched in horror as they put them in, on every site in "cookie cutter" fashion. It is specifically a quad pole, dual band antenna with duplexers both at the top & bottom of the tower, with a spaghetti mess of jumpers to hook it all up. They had the TDMA (now off), the GSM & the HSPA all hooked to this, all at the same time. This gives you the same gain, beamwidth, downtilt & azimuths for all technologies. There is no way that 2 different technologies with different optimization needs can work out of the same setup. And they are also scared to optimize the HSPA for fear of breaking the GSM. Not that their local staff is up to it anyway. So, don't expect it to work too good or be too fast. Unless AT&T fixes this screwup, I wouldn't waste my money.
October 1, 2008 12:02 pm
One at&t so called 3g network is ONLY availble in LIMITED markets and half the time does not work anyway. I hate to admit I got suckered into their crazy talk about how much better and bigger their network is but they are using OLD outdates systems anyway GSM hell 3rd world countries still use GSM and it is NOT TRUELY digital as they claim. GSM and EDGE is slow as hell as it is. I have tried both VZW and Sprint and I found Sprint to work better for me. EVDO is just way better than ATT and by the way the ICRAP is only as good as the network it is on. If it was a EVDO phone it would be faster and work better. I gave both of mine away the 3g and the Icrap. I took and put them side by side the VZW 6800, Sprint Touch and the REGULAR EBAY site not ebay mobile came up faster on both the EVDO devices in each test of the ICRAP and the 3G ICRAP. after wait 12 seconds for the header on the ICRAP i gave up and then I tried the 3G model no big gain it got the header only at 8.5 second WOHOOOOO boy that is FAST. Now on the EVDO phones ebay SITE came up in 4.2 seconds with VZW and 4.1 seconds with the Sprint device. I am in ORLANDO FLorida a major market why is ATT so slow who knows. I can not wait for WIMAX to come to Orlando.
October 1, 2008 12:12 pm
AT&T is going to run off the runway & hit the wall if it doesn't invest in HSPA. Their design approach of slapping HSPA on top of their GSM network, with a one antenna to do both technologies, will not work for them much longer. I am suprised they are still getting by with this after all of the 3G iPhones out there. Then again, there has been enough of complaints about speed & reliability, even in a former article in RCR. A CDMA based network needs to be optimized very differently from GSM, if you expect to get the speed & capacity gains out of it. They have yet to do this, which is why I'll stay with Verizon. And that crack about EVDO having a limited future, its no more limited than HSPA. EVDO also offers the same throughput with less bandwidth, meaning better spectral effiency & more capacity for a given band. But then, AT&T is such a spectrum hoarder they probably don't care anyway. All of this will be out the window when the first one to widely & CORRECTLY deploy LTE comes to town. However, if AT&T tries to slap that up too, they'll not only hit the wall, they will burst into flames while Verizon laughes.
October 1, 2008 12:02 pm
Jim, I disagree. AT&T will not utilize WiMax because they see it as economically invalid as was stated in this article.
October 1, 2008 12:12 pm
Still find it very interesting that AT&T is here at the WiMAX World. Some interesting facts to keep in mind:1. Per Kafka, AT&T are going to wait for 4-5 Years for LTE, and continue the growth of their HSPA networks. 2. Going from HSPA+ to LTE is a forklift upgrade becuase of OFDM technology in LTE. Big$3. AT&T recently won 700Mhz Spectrum that they will need (FCC rules) to deploy within 4 years in 35% of their Geography. It will take them a few years to build a new 700Mhz LTE network.4. The existing and future HSPA+ networks will struggle with the expected growth in demand for Data and Video and have a major impact on bandwidth.5. Verizon Wireless is their only competition and will have their LTE network up and operational within 2-3 years, giving them a major advantage in Performance in both Voice and Data/Video services. AT&T needs to address this before VZW deploys.What if:AT&T elected to deploy a 700Mhz and or AWS based WiMAX network in their major markets in parallel with their HSPA network.They could then begin shifting Data and Video services off their HSPA network, freeing it up to maximize voice performanceneed. By offering Dual Mode HSPA and WiMAX (700Mhz) phones they would be able to allow their subscribers to maximize all services by moving easily between networks. In addition AT&T could compete immediately with any Clearwire 2.5Ghz WiMAX network (700Mhz spectrum is far superior to 2.5Ghz)and VZW future LTE.AT&T would also be able to deliver their Broadcast Video networks nationwide via MediaFlow (also 700Mhz) and some of their Aloha 700Mhz spectrum.In short they have options and they need to address VZW or take a back seat in the 2010/2013 time frame.Jim A.
October 1, 2008 12:12 pm
So, did the reporter bother to ask about how long GPRS and EDGE will continue to be supported. That spectrum will get quite crowded with supporting packet data on 3 and now 4 different technologies. If you have GRPS or GPRS/EDGE only devices, your speeds will SLOOOOOOW as they retune.