Majority to deploy HSPA+ before LTE: Survey

BANGALORE, INDIA: Eighty two percent of service provider respondents plan to follow the W-CDMA to LTE deployment scenario, and of those, 53 percent plan to deploy HSPA+ before LTE.

This is according to market research firm Infonetics Research's, 4G Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, report.

Also Read: WiMAX vs LTE: Can India afford losing spectrum?



“Better spectral efficiency tops the list of technical drivers for service providers upgrading to 4G,” notes Richard Webb, directing analyst, WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices, Infonetics.

Stéphane Téral, principal analyst, mobile and FMC infrastructure, Infonetics Research, said: "We asked service providers around the world when they anticipate their 4G networks will be complete with commercial services running. Two-thirds said 2012 to 2014, which is a realistic timeframe when an equipment and device ecosystem based upon an IMT-Advanced definition of 4G seems likely."

Half of the service providers believe 4G downlink speed will be between 25Mbps and 50Mbps at service launch, while 42 percent believe downlink speeds will be in excess of 50Mbps, suggesting that operators are getting more ambitious.

Eighty two percent of service providers say they plan to launch mobile VPN services, showing the growing importance of the mobile enterprise business.

Service providers appear to have sorted out their voice migration strategy (which was unclear in a similar Infonetics survey conducted last year), with IMS identified as the key architecture.

Over half of the service providers surveyed plan to offer voice services over 4G one year after commercial launch.