TheMulteFire Alliance today announced the completion of its Release 1.0 specification for the technology, which allows for LTE connectivity without the need for licensed spectrum. Building on Third Generation Partnership Project Release 13 and 14, particularly advancements in license assisted access, enhanced LAA and carrier aggregation, MulteFire does not require an anchor tenant in licensed spectrum.
Because MulteFire removes the need for investment in licensed spectrum, early use cases are geared around enterprise IT scenarios. Service providers or users could deploy an LTE network to support everything from employees’ smartphones to “internet of things” devices.
Mazen Chmaytelli, MulteFire Alliance president and Qualcomm’s senior director of business development, explained to RCR Wireless News that the MulteFire Alliance, in establishing the first specification, focused on “minimizing the delta” between the new tech and 3GPP standards so vendors can more easily incorporate MulteFire into product lines.
“There will be an adoption curve, as with any new technology,” Chmaytelli said. “The good news, building on a healthy LTE ecosystem, that will help. Some of these private LTE network implementations will be the first adopters, reason being they’d like to have LTE technology today, however they don’t have licensed spectrum to do so.”
The group detailed several key aspects of the new specification, including:
- Implements listen-before-talk for coexistence with technologies using the same spectrum such as Wi-Fi and LAA, as well as co-existence between different MulteFire networks.
- Defines a neutral host access mode where the same deployment can serve multiple operators, as well as a traditional access mode for a single network operator.
- Enables access authentication with or without a SIM card to provide services for subscribers from different types of service providers, including mobile operators.
- Supports a range of LTE services, including voice over LTE and high-speed mobile broadband.
Chmaytelli said the full specification is currently limited to alliance members, but the group plans on opening up the information in mid-2017. For now, he said the next steps include more and larger trials, as well as setting up a certification framework.
MulteFire Alliance members include Athonet, Bai Cells, Boingo Wireless, CableLabs, CAICT, Casa Systems, Cisco, Comcast, Ericsson, ExteNet Systems, Huawei, Intel, Liberty Global, Nokia, Qualcomm, Rohde &Schwarz, Ruckus, Sanjole, Sercom, SoftBank and SpiderCloud Wireless.