TD-LTE technology continues to make technical progress, with L.M. Ericsson (ERIC) demonstrating an end-to-end solution earlier this week in Shanghai, China.
Further, WiMAX proponent Alvarion Ltd. (ALVR) announced its support for TD-LTE technology.
Ericsson, the world’s largest infrastructure supplier, said it successfully used a USB dongle with a TD-LTE chipset from ST Ericsson with Ericsson’s new TD-LTE base station. Previously, the company said it has verified a single user peak rate of 110 Mbps in the downlink.
Ericsson said it is conducting interoperability tests with two other chipset and terminal vendors and expects those tests to be completed soon.
TD-LTE, which originally was dismissed by some in the industry, has garnered a lot of attention recently for several reasons. China Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., the world’s largest wireless operator, announced it plans to deploy the technology in the next few years as it upgrades from 3G technology. Further, it turns out that there is a lot of unpaired spectrum available in Europe that could be well-suited to the technology. Finally, Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) said it plans to deploy TD-LTE technology as it builds out its network in India.
“The successful demonstration today reflects not only Ericsson’s undisputed technology leadership in the LTE domain, but also our unwavering commitment to the development of TD-LTE in China and elsewhere in the world,” said Mats Olsson, president of Ericsson China & North East Asia. “We will make every effort to support China Mobile in bringing revolutionary mobile broadband experiences to tens of millions of Chinese consumers in the near future.”
For its part, Alvarion said it would support the TD-LTE standard, incorporating it into its 4Motion solution. Alvarion said it would continue to support WiMAX technology, including standardization efforts and products. Some analysts are predicting WiMAX technology to be shorter lived than originally thought as TD-LTE gains steam. However, Visant Strategies just released a study that said it expects a sizable WiMAX equipment market for 10 years. Alvarion said it plans to participate in field trials in first-quarter 2011.