Industry sights are firmly set on LTE for future networks

by Lance Hiley, Cambridge Broadband Networks

Filed in mobile broadband

The number of Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscriptions worldwide will grow at a CAGR of 404 percent from 2010 to 2014, a pace faster than any previous mobile standard including 3G, according to the latest report from Pyramid Research. With increasing visibility of the shape of the future landscape of mobile broadband, today’s operators are choosing a solution that offers a cost effective and sustainable method to backhaul unprecedented amounts of data on the networks they are building today.

The forecast for LTE is becoming ever clearer. Its promise to deliver users the benefits of faster data speeds and increased capacity, squeezed into the same quantity of spectrum, makes it the industry’s hottest topic. The number of mobile operators committing to LTE deployments today acts as a definitive barometer to the expected take-up of LTE networks over the next 3 years. With the first network forecast to enter service in 2010, the GSA reported recently that the number of mobile operators committed to LTE networks has risen from 26 to 31 in just one month.

What has been less clear until the launch of VectaStar Next Generation is the way the industry was planning to backhaul data-heavy traffic at unprecedented speeds. At the recent TNMO conference in Amsterdam, operators reported HSPA and LTE average cell site traffic requirements ranging from 10Mb/s – 50Mb/s and with rates peaking at 150Mb/s. This capacity is easily within VSNGs capabilities, but not all backhaul solutions can say the same.

So, what else are operators looking for in the run up to LTE?

Capacity is the most obvious focus area for most backhaul solutions providers, but the rapid take-up of VectaStar Next Generation suggests that operators are focussing on three additional key areas when evaluating their backhaul solution:

 Simple migration to LTE, while supporting existing networks
 An up-to-date backhaul solutions that is evolving with the fast-paced industry
 Efficiency. Less spectrum, lower capital and less operational costs

These three areas are integral to the design of VectaStar Next Generation and allow operators to plan for LTE using a phased, cost-effective migration path. According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, the “big trend” towards microwave exists because it offers a scalable and cost-effective roadmap for managing the escalating bandwidth demands driven by the mobile broadband boom, and future 4G deployments.

Combine this scalable, cost-effective roadmap with the highest-performance PMP backhaul solution on the market and you have a clear market leader. VectaStar Next Generation.

In summary, it seems that the industry’s sights are firmly set on LTE for future networks. The number of operators committed to LTE for their future mobile broadband is climbing steadily

According to our customers, VectaStar Next Generation couldn’t have come at a better time. As operators look towards LTE and beyond, they are confident that a backhaul solution fits with their future roadmap in terms of capacity, LTE migration, cutting edge design and efficiency.

Join the debate!
•When do you think the first LTE networks will be ready for commercial use?
•What do you think average and peak data rates experienced by users will be?