Global telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, SoftBank, China Mobile, and KT have reiterated their support for the global development of the TDD-LTE technology- a fast developing standard of the 4G technology, through GTI 2.0, a new 5-year strategic plan and mission, which aims to push the global development of TDD-LTE, encouraging convergence with FDD-LTE standard, and to foster a cross-industry innovative and a synergistic 5G ecosystem.
TDD and FDD are the two LTE standards approved by the 3GPP. TDD standard delivers LTE by creating a time delay between the uplink and downlink signals. FDD or frequency division duplex standard requires two channels to deliver LTE.
Commercial since 2011, TDD-LTE is gaining global momentum globally, and is being used in 2.3GHz (B40) spectrum band in India and 2.6 GHz (B38) used Europe, with variations (B41) in the U.S. and Japan. China, which gave a major push to the device and gear ecosystem for the TDD-LTE standard, is using multiple spectrum bands, including Band38 and Band40.
"Bharti Airtel is delighted to be a part of GTI 2.0. We have led the roll-out of TD-LTE in India and are confident that it will emerge as the preferred standard for evolving mobile technologies. We look forward to collaborating with the consortium partners towards developing technology ecosystem for the future and help build a digitally inclusive world," Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said in the joint statement.
In India, Bharti Airtel was the first telecom operator to launch TDD-LTE based 4G services using the 2300 Mhz band. Reliance Jio, the only pan-India BWA license holder, has also created its 4G network using the TDD-LTE network, and is widely expected to launch commercial services around April this year.
Bharti Airtel has lately been expanding its services using the 1800 MHz band FDD-LTE technology in the country. Vodafone India and Idea Cellular too have joined the 4G race with their FDD-LTE based 4G services using the same spectrum band.
"FD-LTE technology has been the preferred technology, as against TD-LTE globally, and in India up till now due to ecosystem development and sub 1Ghz band presence. However, TDD LTE technology will get a major boost as carrier aggregation standards continue to come in to play, especially around TD-FD convergence," said Rohan Dhamija, partner and head for India and south Asia at telecom consulting firm Analysys Mason.
"The GTI 2.0 collaboration platform is a great move in the same direction, as FD-TD convergence is a key goal for the platform," he added.
Founded in 2011, GTI has been dedicated to constructing a robust ecosystem of TD-LTE, speeding up the commercialization of TD-LTE and promoting the convergence of LTE TDD and FDD.
GTI has become an influential cooperation platform with 122 operator members and 103 industrial partners, and has completed the GTI 1.0 mission by building an end-to-end TD-LTE ecosystem and achieving global commercialization of TD-LTE and converged LTE TDD/FDD.
With the success in making TD-LTE a global standard and the convergence of TDD/FDD, GTI 2.0 will continue to help the whole industry benefit from the evolution of TD-LTE, TDD/FDD converged networks and global smartphones, and promote a unified 5G standard and mature end-to-end ecosystem, as well as explore cross-industry markets and opportunities.
Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group, said that it is important for the industry to continue developing 4G and to work together to develop the standards for 5G technology ahead of its expected commercial introduction from 2020 onwards. "GTI 2.0 will provide Vodafone with a useful forum to work closely with a number of major operators towards that goal," he added.
Dhamija said Vodafone Group becoming a part of GTI 2.0 is an interesting development, given the telco wasn't a big supporter of TD LTE standard. "TD-FD convergence evolution could be a key factor in Vodafone coming on board," he noted.
By the end of December 2015, there were 76 TD-LTE commercial networks in 43 countries, and 91 TD-LTE networks in progress, with a total of 1.4 million TD-LTE base stations serving 470 million subscribers globally. Masayoshi Son, Chairman of Softbank Group, expects that GTI 2.0 will continue to promote the evolution of technology to meet the requirements of 1 million times growth of mobile data traffic in next 30 years.
"In specific, I believe Band 41 HP UE will benefit both operator and customer, which I really want GTI 2.0 to make it happen as soon as possible," Son added.
Shang Bing, Chairman of China Mobile said that the telco will work closely with GTI partners to further promote TD-LTE evolution, global deployment and propel 5G development and joint innovation to embrace the new era of 'Everything Connected'."