TD-LTE roll-outs gain momentum in APAC: Study

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: TD-LTE is gaining traction in Asia-Pacific and is expected to be rolled out soon in several other countries outside China and India, according to a new report from global research firm Ovum.

While FDD LTE services were debuted in Asia-Pacific in late-2010 by Hong Kong’s CSL and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, there has also been significant interest in TD-LTE outside of China.

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In addition to China Mobile, Reliance Industries (RIL) looks set to deploy TD-LTE services in 2011 in India, the world’s second-largest mobile market after China, giving a major boost to TD-LTE’s global ambitions.

“TD-LTE services could also be launched in Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Taiwan,” says Nicole McCormick, Ovum’s senior analyst.

However, it is not just WiMAX operators that are considering TD-LTE, with Japanese mobile operator Softbank Mobile investigating the deployment of TD-LTE services alongside its FD-LTE services in high-demand areas.

“For FDD mobile operators, the most likely scenario for TD-LTE is that it is deployed for capacity offload,” says McCormick.

For its part, China Mobile has pursued an international strategy for TD-LTE that will see smartphones released that accommodate both TDD and FDD services. This will make the technology more attractive to operators looking to deploy TD-LTE services by opening up domestic and global roaming opportunities.

“But commercialization of TD-LTE in China depends on when licences for 4G spectrum are issued, and the Chinese government has not indicated when this will occur,” notes McCormick. “In the past, the issuing of licences in China has been a slow and cumbersome process.”

China Mobile hopes to launch commercial TD-LTE services in 2012, with large-scale pre-commercials services penned to begin this year. Polish mobile broadband operator Aero2 is due to turn on the world’s first commercial TD-LTE system in early 2011.