Summary
Motorola has yet to announce any major LTE wins. Other major wireless equipment vendors are winning the major mobile carriers. Time may run out if Motorola is not able to secure a major network for their roll out.
Analysis
Motorola has been in forefront of mobile broadband radio technology (4G/LTE) with out a full organic end-to-end solution. Their focus has been on the radio and partners with vendors such as Starent for the evolved packet core. Given that Motorola's major wireless footprint is in Japan and China, they have not been that widely deployed elsewhere. Most vendors are taking advantage of their footprint to expand their 3G or CDMA radio technologies to LTE. After losing Verizon Wireless LTE business to Ericsson and ALU, their main US opportunity disappeared. Motorola must secure some win or they will not be viewed as a major LTE vendor.
It is not clear as why this announcement is significant. Most major mobile carriers in the Scandinavian region have committed to other vendors such as Ericsson and Huawei. Nokia-Siemens is also a local manufacturer with significant footprint. Also, that region has a very high penetration of broadband with low population density.
Providing a broadband pipe is only the first step and Motorola must demonstrate what their plans are to provide other services beyond data (i.e. messaging and voice) with their LTE. Previously, they resorted to vendors such as Sonus and Sylantro (now a part of Broadsoft) when they deployed WiMAX. However, if the target customers are mobile carriers, those traditional VoIP vendors will not be viewed positively and other alternatives must be sought.
Payam Maveddat consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
