iDen, CDMA, WiMax converge

Sprint’s Vision: iDen, CDMA & WiMAX, All Together Now

Posted by Sam Churchill on December 6th, 2010

Sprint Nextel has selected vendors Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Samsung for its network modernization project, reports Fierce Wireless. The project will cost $4 billion to $5 billion, and is expected to take three to five years to complete.

Today, Sprint uses separate equipment to deploy services on 800MHz spectrum, 1.9GHz spectrum and, through its relationship with Clearwire, 2.5GHz spectrum. Under the terms of the new contracts, Alcatel-Lucent , Ericsson and Samsung will install new network equipment and software that brings together multiple spectrum bands on a single, multimode base station.

Sprint’s “Network Vision” includes phasing out its iDEN network beginning in 2013, which uses 800 MHz. Sprint’s cellular network was built around PCS frequencies (1900MHz). The heart of the project is the deployment of new multi-mode base station, which Sprint says could allow it to deploy LTE at minimal cost.

Starting in 2011, Sprint plans to improve its push-to-talk (PTT) service on CDMA, move users over via multi-mode handsets, and then begin phasing out iDEN in 2013. There are NO immediate plans to force migrate iDEN customers to the CDMA network, says Sprint (pdf).

Sprint Nextel killed multi-billion bids from Chinese-based Huawei Technologies and ZTE last month because of U.S. government security concerns. Both the WSJ Journal and the Financial Timesreported that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke contacted Sprint CEO Dan Hesse about the concerns.

Motorola, Nokia-Siemens, Huawei, and Samsung have all developed dual mode (WiMAX/LTE) basestations. Motorola has since sold their cellular infrastructure division to Nokia Siemens while Huawei was dropped from consideration over security concerns.

Sprint says the project will be divided between Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Samsung on “a market-by-market basis.” The markets for each company will include:

• Alcatel-Lucent: New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington/Baltimore, and Los Angeles
• Ericsson: Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Kansas City, and Dallas
• Samsung: Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Seattle

Sprint estimates the total net financial benefit over a seven-year period will be between $10 billion and $11 billion. Cost savings are expected to come from capital efficiencies, reducing energy costs, lowering roaming expenses, backhaul savings and the eventual reduction in the total number of cell sites.

Sprint plans to improve the quality and in-building penetration of its 1900 MHz CDMA network and maximize its spectrum holdings in the 800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2.5 GHz bands. The company also plans to migrate iDEN customers to CDMA and offer new push-to-talk services on its CDMA network beginning in 2011.

The company plans to use iDen’s 800 MHz spectrum for voice and eventually take advantage of 1X Advanced technology. About 11 million Sprint customers use the iDen network which carries walkie-talkie voice services, but does not support high speed data. iDEN’s push-to-talk feature remains the fastest in the industry as compared toSprint’s Qchat and Verizon’s PTT which use CDMA’s EVDO Rev. A data channel.

By the choice of vendors, it appears that Sprint may utilize 2.6 GHz spectrum for LTE rather than go with WiMAX which would be problematic for seamless roaming with other carriers.

Ericsson has never supported WiMAX, while Alcatel-Lucent offers only WiMax for fixed (not mobile) solutions.

Clear has installed Samsung U-RAS Flexible base stations, which can be used as a common platform for 802.16e, 802.16m, as well as both FDD-LTE and TD-LTE deployments, as well as Motorola’s LTE/WiMAX solutions and Huawei basestations that allow TDD-WiMAX, TDD-LTE or FDD-LTE with a simple board swap.

Clearwire plans to conduct LTE tests in the fall and throughout early 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona (see DW: Clearwire to Test LTE ). During the trials, Clearwire will collaborate with Beceem, and other partners, to determine the best methods for enabling end-user devices to take advantage of a potential multi-mode WiMAX/LTE network.

•  FDD LTE: Clearwire will conduct FDD LTE (Frequency Division Duplex) tests using 40 MHz of spectrum, paired in 20 MHz contiguous channels, of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. Clearwire expects real-world download speeds from 20-70 Mbps. This is expected to be significantly faster than the 5-12 Mbps speeds currently envisioned by other LTE deployments in the U.S., which will rely on smaller pairs of 10 Mhz channels or less.
• TDD LTE: Clearwire will concurrently test TDD LTE (Time Division Duplex), in a 20 MHz configuration, which is twice the channel size currently used in its 4G WiMAX deployments.
• WiMAX and LTE: Clearwire will also test WiMAX co-existence with both FDD LTE and TDD LTE to confirm the flexibility of its network and spectrum strength to simultaneously support a wide-range of devices across its all-IP network.

Beceem’s newest chip, the BCS500 supports both WiMAX 16e and the faster 16m standard, as well as LTE. The BCS500 chip supports both TDD and FDD LTE and 802.16m. No word on WiMAX devices using Beceem’s WiMAX/LTE chip. But it fits Sprint’s game plan. And Sprint owns 51% of Clearwire.

Sprints support of LTE would make the standard the undisputed champion of mobile data in the United States, falling in line with India and China.

TeliaSonera uses 20 MHz wide LTE channels, twice the bandwidth of Verizon’s 700MHz system. It uses the 2.6 GHz band – same as Clearwire’s WiMAX in the United States. Clearwire’s Phoenix LTE test will use Huawei gear, the same vendor thatTeliaSonera is using.

TeliaSonera’s LTE network began commercial operation in Stockholm and Oslo in December 2009. They have three nation wide 4G/LTE licenses; in Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Clearwire began commercial Mobile WiMAX operations in Baltimore Maryland, in October 2007.

source: dailywireless.org