Seminar on 3G/LTE Technology (TD-SCDMA) and solutions for developing countries 1.

Introduction

The seminar was organized in three main parts lectures, Company visits and about China society and culture. The report outlines lectures, Company visits and general perspective of telecommunication industry. 2. Lectures

The seminar was about 3G/LTE Technology. We have talked about spectrum allocation, china telecommunication research and development policy, china universal service policy, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution), CMMB (China Mobile Multimedia Broadcast), TDeNet (TD-SCDMA Wireless Dedicated Network), Mobile TV, and value added services, mobile TV services and so on. All informations were useful since they provide full solution as far as ICT (Information and Communications Technology) is concerned. Topic or technology we wish could be covered as well is how to migrate/evolved from CDMA2000 to TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE since former is our existing network. TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE technologies have additional advantages as compare to other radio access techniques, during our seminar we covered TDD Technology, Smart Antenna Technology, Joint detection, Power control and uplink synchronization, Relay handover, and Dynamic channel assignment. Various aspects of TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE solutions were described urban coverage, Indoor coverage, Subway/tunnel coverage, Stadium/Theatre, Ultra-remote area coverage, and Highway/magnetic scenario coverage. TDD technological technique is the most attractive feature in my own perspective as far as TD-SCDMA solution is concerned. Asymmetric data traffic flow, efficiently spectrum utilization, support for smart antenna, ability to allow interference mitigation and others are solutions that any Telecommunication Operator or Regulator may wish to attain. TD-SCDMA as a new 3G technology certainly may have market space in developing countries like Tanzania due to its backward compatibility with GSM network. TTCL has to review this solution as far as TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return On Investment) benefits are concerned, since is has already deployed CDMA2000 network. Alternatively TTCL may leapfrog technology (3G) in favor of TD-LTE.

http://tdia.cn/seminaron3GLTE/index.asp 3. Company visits

We have visited CATT, Datang Mobile, TD-Tech, Wondertek, SIM technology, MT base of CMCC, Xian PT University and ICT center in village. These companies with different backgrounds, range form system equipment vendor, chipset vender, mobile phone vender, software vendor, SP, and mobile operator. Also it includes research institute, enterprises and university. They both give us best impression in terms of business culture, their lecture contents, faculties, products and solutions. They are competent at international standard level. The only thing noted during our factory/equipment production visit is duration was so short to enable us have hands-on experience. 4. General views on telecommunication industry

4.1 Spectrum The mobile communication industry requires continued availability of radio spectrum in sufficient quantity within suitable bands and arranged in a consistent and harmonised manner and that is among others objective of TCRA (Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority). This will facilitate global roaming and enable economies of scale that produce high cost efficiencies. 4.2 Time Division Duplex (TDD) vs. Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) in broadband services deployment The Seminar mainly cover TDD, below is comparison with respect to FDD technology from various source of information. TDD TDD is the application of time-division multiplexing to separate outward and return signals. It emulates full duplex communication over a half duplex communication link TDD is best suited for bursty, asymmetric traffic, such as Internet or other datacentric services In TDD, both the transmitter and receiver operate on the same frequency but at different times. Therefore, TDD systems reuse the filters, mixers, frequency sources and synthesizers, thereby eliminating the complexity and costs associated with FDD This mode of operation is referred to as duplex mode or offset mode. Uplink and downlink sub-bands are said to be separated by the frequency offset FDD is an older scheme that was best suited for applications, such as voice, that generate symmetric traffic An FDD system uses a duplexer and/or two antennas that require spatial separation and, therefore, cannot reuse the resources. The result is more costly hardware

isolating the transmit antenna and the receive antenna. TDD utilizes the spectrum more efficiently than FDD. TDD is more flexible in meeting the need to dynamically reconfigure the allocated upstream and downstream bandwidth in response to customer needs TDD allows interference mitigation via proper frequency planning. TDD requires only one interference-free channel.

FDD cannot be used in environments where the service provider does not have enough bandwidth to provide the required guardband between transmit and receive channels FDD requires channels. two interference-free

The use of TDD also enables a number of technical advantages with respect to smartantenna technologies (beamforming in particular) compared to FDD. However, TDD needs more sites to cover an area compared to FDD due to a power disadvantage in the uplink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-division_duplex#Time-division_duplexing http://www.wlanmall.com/tdd_vs_fdd_wireless_backhaul.php 4.3 The idea to leapfrog technology (3G) in favour of LTE The following also have to be taken into account. LTE Is still emerging technology and is expected to mature only by 2013/14. The first BTS was recently rolled-out and the trials are still on. Is an all IP network, though is backward compatible with WCDMA and CDMA. We are not sure if the technology (LTE) is ready for voice (e.g. VOIP) Many governments across the world are yet to spell out their spectrum policy towards LTE. It is not clear if the LTE handsets would work on 2G and 3G networks which means in absence of seamless coverage, the users would need to keep two handsets. It is a complete new infrastructure rollout due to the difference in the technology resulting in a higher CAPEX 3G Is a proven technology. The standards are well developed and each of the equipment Vendors has decent experience in the 3G roll-out Voice is standardized

Global roaming is supported Devices are ready available

In 3G rollout, the basic infrastructure is the same and it is just a software update for the core and addition of electronics on the BTS. Most of emerging markets have vast rural hinterlands and 3G being an evolved technology is seeing a lot of initiatives to cut costs for rural roll-outs.

http://www.telecomcircle.com/2009/09/leapfrog-technology/ 4.4 Mobile Broadband: Drivers and Inhibitors Mobile broadband is the name used to describe various types of wireless high-speed internet access through a portable modem, telephone or other device. Various network standards may be used, such as GPRS, 3G, WiMAX, LTE UMTS/HSPA, EV-DO and some portable satellite-based systems. 4.4.1 Drivers of Mobile Internet usage

Mobility People want true mobility and to be able to use their broadband everywhere gives a big reason for consumers to adopt mobile broadband Flat Fee Consumers want to have control on the expenditure and hence flat fee acts as a trigger for higher adoption. A number of reports have conclusively shown that the subscriber base increased at a much faster pace after the flat fee introduction by carriers Devices - The portable devices like the netbooks, notebooks, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) have been the cornerstone of mobile broadband uptake ever since the USB modems become popular. The carriers are offering free netbooks or in some case a free notebook in return of 2 year mobile broadband contract. Launch of mobile devices like iPhone, Android based phones and increasing popularity of smart phones is adding to the mobile broadband subscriber boom Simplicity Mobile broadband is easy to use and consumers need not shift to fixed internet at home. They can continue to use mobile broadband even at home. This simplicity is a key driver for current adoption and would lead to churn in fixed internet in favor or mobile broadband 4.4.2 Inhibitors of Mobile Internet usage

Uniform consumer experience - There are economic considerations in network roll-outs leading to limitation on coverage the mobile phone networks can provide. At the same time, there are issues related to capacity and speed in a few areas that is not seen as uniform consumer experience. - To provide seamless coverage is a challenge - Consumers in developing countries are economically constrained and hence it would be a challenge to profitably provide mobile broadband services. Heavy usage is choking the 3G networks of most of the operators The unprecedented growth in mobile broadband subscription and usage of new portable devices has lead to even higher growth in data traffic. - The data revenues have not kept pace with the increase in traffic due to introduction of flat rates. - Moreover, the highly competitive carrier landscape is leading to severe price erosion. This means the carriers would need to substantially reduce the bandwidth cost per megabit or create hindrances to the fixed to mobile substitution. In the meantime, the carriers have started to impose fair usage limits on their customers. 4

Regulatory policies - The regulatory authorities would do well by expediting the resolution of long pending decisions on spectrum (e.g. availability) and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Lack of killer applications - Lack of killer applications especially for mobiles is one of the reasons for lack of consumer interest in mobile broadband. For many consumers, voice is the only killer application on mobile and they do not see any need to expand the horizon of services they use on mobile. A few killer applications with a critical mass gathering around them would make consumers adopt mobile broadband. Email was the killer application on fixed internet, probably location based services could be the killer application for mobile broadband Limited availability of money for investment limited availability of money for investment is also likely to stall the network roll-out efforts of carriers. In such an environment, there are additional pressures on profitability and capital expenditure. http://www.telecomcircle.com/2010/01/mobile-broadband-in-uk-2/ 4.5 QUALCOMM issues TTCL has already deployed CDMA network and any thing that may leverage has to be useful. Below is narration of success story from India Qualcomm is a leading chipset developer and has been a pioneer of CDMA technology. The Fortune 500 Company, with operations in 139 countries, was founded in July 1985. Qualcomm holds 12,600 US patents and pending patent applications for CDMA and related technologies. With its recent launch of LTE chipsets that support both FDD and TDD, the company is clearly riding an upward trend. It has announced the availability of the MDM9X00 chipset solution, which will support both LTE-FDD and LTE-TDD, as prescribed by the standards, and interoperable with EVDO and HSPA. November 2010, US-based chipmaker Qualcomm demonstrated long term evolution-time division duplex (LTE-TDD) mobility with seamless hand-off in India, in partnership with the Swedish equipment maker Ericsson. The demonstration was able to live-stream multiple high definition video feeds to a mobile van in the Gurgaon area, showing seamless connectivity between base stations, while maintaining session continuity. The trial was carried out using USB dongles based on Qualcomms multimode chipset that supports both LTE and 3G. The demonstration is a significant step towards the commercial availability of infrastructure and chipsets that will support both 3G and LTE-TDD in 2011, says Kanwalinder Singh, president of Qualcomm India and South Asia. Qualcomm is a big advocate of the technology and is conducting several LTE-TDD trials with operators and vendors across the world. The company is working with infrastructure

players like Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent for the commercial deployment of this technology. The company plans to partner with one or more 3G HSPA and/or EVDO operators for the construction of an LTE network and exit the (Broadband Wireless Access) BWA venture. However, it has no plans to compete with the operators. We never wanted to be an operator. We are a technology company and we want to do just that, emphasizes Singh. Future strategy: Given that the uptake of 3G and LTE-TDD will be dependent on the device ecosystem, a major area of focus for Qualcomm is hand-held devices, from low-end to Smartphones, as well as computing devices and laptops. Qualcomms new chipsets that support these technologies have reportedly been bought by several handset and PC manufacturers. http://www.tele.net.in/company-stories/item/6700-qualcomm-india-bringing-lte-tdd-toindia?format=pdf http://www.qualcomm.com/documents/whats-next-cdma http://online.barrons.com/article/PR-CO-20110830-903755.html#articleTabs%3Darticle 5. Conclusion

The seminar was about 3G/LTE Technology (TD-SCDMA) and solutions for developing countries. Below is our recommendation. TTCL has to review this solution as far as total cost of ownership and return on investment benefits are concerned before we embark on TD-SCDMA. This 3G solution has additional technical features compared to our existing CDMA2000 network Study case of India in partnership with Qualcomm has to be evaluated (visited) as well we might be in similar situation right now. To remain competitive, TTCL needs to adopt TDD technology by all necessary means, the sooner we are engaged the better.