Sprint – Making Moves to Deploy 4G

Implications: The race is on.  The Sprint WiMAX launch had been delayed.  However, from the tone of Hesse’s remarks he sounds pretty confident he is going actually deploy this year. Hesse says WiMAX is 4G.

Analysis: The race is afoot.  Long term evolution has not even made it out of discussions regarding licensing and now mobile WiMAX equipment is receiving the official certification of the WiMAX Forum.

The fight between LTE and WiMAX is no longer just talk.  Sprint is committed to commercially launching WiMAX in Baltimore in September 2008.  Hesse’s comments about 4G and WiMAX clearly establish the position that 4G is WiMAX.

“What is 4G?”  It is obvious that depending on whom you speak to 4G will take on different technology forms.  It could be LTE or WiMAX.

LTE is envisioned to have the following abilities:
    -    Downlink rates of 100 Mbps, and uplink rates of 50 Mbps for every 20 MHz of spectrum.
    -    Support at least 200 simultaneous active users in every 5 MHz cell.
    -    Support all IP transactions.
    -    Sub-5 millisecond latency for small IP data packets.
    -    Increased spectrum management flexibility, supporting spectrum slices as small as 1.25 MHz and as large as 20 MHz.
    -    Coverage - Optimal cell size of 5 km to about 30 km with reasonable performance, and up to about 100 km cell sizes supported with acceptable performance
    -    Interoperability with legacy standards will be important so that users can transparently start a call or transfer of data in an area using an LTE standard, and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation without any action on their part using GSM/GPRS or W-CDMA-based UMTS.
    -    Create a simple network architecture that will enable and facilitate a transition from UMTS to an all IP network.
    -    Mobility (Radio Interface)

LTE’s proposed capabilities are impressive but what is 4G?

The United States FCC does not even have a definition for 4G on its website.  The FCC officially defines 3G.  According to the FCC, the “Key features of 3G systems are a high degree of commonality of design worldwide, compatibility of services, use of small pocket terminals with worldwide roaming capability, Internet and other multimedia applications, and a wide range of services and terminals.”  The FCC actually defined 3G.  The FCC even went so far as to describe expected attributes and capabilities of 3G systems.

The key point I am making here is that the FCC does not have a definition for 4G. Off hand, we could say that 4G is faster than 3G and can support higher quality video and is an all IP-based solution.  It should be noted that variations of 3G, especially UMTS Release 5, support the Internet Protocol (IP).  Industry players are now beginning to use the phrase “beyond 3G” to describe next generation wireless broadband solutions.  Wireless technology is getting faster and faster and more efficient every year.  What are we to do, give a number to each generation of technology?  For now, we will brand the next generation technology 4G.

Some industry pundits have defined as “the next step in wireless communications”.  Industry trade journals have defined 4G as a wireless solution capable of providing a comprehensive IP-based solution where voice, data, and video can be provided to users; anytime and anywhere.  Funny thing about the phrase “anytime and anywhere”, it was the way the cellular industry first defined analog cellular voice calling.

4G is envisioned to support a fully IP-based technology platform that is capable of providing 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps speeds both indoors and outdoors, with premium quality and high security.  4G will offer all types of services at an affordable cost.  4G is also being developed to accommodate the quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by forthcoming applications like wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, High definition TV content, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), minimal service like voice and data, and other streaming services for "anytime-anywhere".

The various industry 4G working groups have defined the following broad attributes of the 4G wireless communication standard:

    ·         Data rate of at least 100 Mbps between any two points in the world. 
    ·         Smooth handoff across heterogeneous network.
    ·         Spectrally efficient system (in bits/s/Hz and bit/s/Hz/site).
    ·         High network capacity.
    ·         Nominal data rate of 100 Mbps at high speeds and 1 Gbps at stationary conditions as defined by the ITU-R.
    ·         Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks.
    ·         Interoperable with the existing wireless standards – this refers to backward compatibility.
    ·         High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc).
    ·         All IP system, packet switched network.  

The definition of 4G is fairly wide open for interpretation.  In fact there is no single killer technology that can hold claim to the title of 4G.  However, WiMAX comes the closest to being 4G because it is available now.

WiMAX is designed around the above criteria.  WiMAX is a bit slower; running between 75 Mbps to nearly 100 Mbps; however, the difference between the 4G design criteria and the as-built condition of WiMAX is nominal at best.

4G can be best characterized as the convergence of multiple technologies to meet the needs of the various customer segments.  WiMAX is an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, a certification mark for products that pass conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE 802.16 suite of standards.  Read the standard.

WiMAX is a wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX can be used for a number of applications, including "last mile" broadband connections, hotspots and cellular backhaul, high-speed enterprise connectivity for business, and mobile broadband services.  It can be likened to a wireless fiber optic type of pipe.

4G is here, it is called WiMAX.  Sprint’s deployment plan will instantly give it high visibility since it will be deploying in Baltimore – they may as well be in Washington, D.C..

However, I also believe that LTE can be 4G.  The reality is that there is no single technology that is “the absolute solution”.  Each radio technology has its ups and downs.

On the one hand the investment community wants a clear winner (for their respective solutions) and on the other hand the investment community wants to put as much money to work as possible in as many sub-sectors as possible to generate transactions fees; hence the fight between LTE and WiMAX is essential to the broker’s and analyst’s business.

It is a strange world we live in.  Let the race continue.