The success of 3GPP’s LTE standard was this week demonstrated by the large attendance and optimism at the LTE Asia Conference, held in Hong Kong.

Over 200 delegates discussed strategies and time-frames for the migration to LTE networks, with the discussion now about the “when”, rather than the “if”.

Delegates heard that half of the over 4 billion subscriptions for mobile will be Broadband by 2013, with the early majority on HSPA, TD-SCDMA and EV-DO networks and with a rising tide of LTE starting to appear as each of these technologies converge on the 3GPP standard.

All roads lead to LTE

This smooth transfer from the legacy equipment towards LTE is proving to be one of the hottest stories of the moment. LTE Asia heard from experts, who spoke of increased confidence that there is a single path, allowing backward and forward compatibility.

LTE Asia hosted a 3GPP workshop session dedicated to the key features of LTE and LTE-Advanced on the agenda as standards start to evolve beyond Release 8.

LTE Asia hosted a 3GPP workshop session dedicated to the key features of LTE and LTE-Advanced on the agenda as standards start to evolve beyond Release 8.

Specialist presentations dealt with; the path to IMT-Advanced, a Chinese perspective from the 3GPP partner in China – CCSA and a detailed Security presentation, including the security aspects and solutions for Femtocells and new LTE security work.|

Takehiro Nakamura, 3GPP RAN Chairman, Bosco Fernandes, UMTS Forum and Zhiqin Wang, MIIT, China Head of Delegation in 3GPP – at LTE Asia|

What they said:

-China Telecom probable path:
IS95 -> CDMA2000 -> EVDO Rev A -> EVDO Rev B(?) -> LTE IS95 -> CDMA2000 -> EVDO Rev A -> EVDO Rev B(?) -> LTE

• China Unicom probable path:

GSM->EDGE->WCDMA -> HSPA-> HSPA+ -> LTEGSM->EDGE->WCDMA -> HSPA-> HSPA+ -> LTE

• China Mobile probable path:

GSM->EDGE->TD-SCDMA->TD-HSPA->TD-LTE (LTE TDD)

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GSM->EDGE->TD-SCDMA->TD-HSPA->TD-LTE (LTE TDD) |