As a successor to 2G and 3G technologies, 4G is expected to offer five times higher speeds. Like 3G, it also supports services such as high definition mobile TV and videoconferencing.
Though India?s rural areas offer significant market potential for telecom services, developing infrastructure for high speed networks in these areas is expensive. This makes urban areas a battleground for customer acquisition. Generally, operators are cautious with regard to their network expenditure. Many of them are currently sharing network infrastructure, which is a viable option for reducing capex. New types of network architecture, with heterogeneous elements comprising macrocells and small cells, are also being considered for the deployment of long term evolution (LTE) 3.9G technology.
Through the deployment of small cells, operators can meet capacity requirements at a lower cost. Migration to LTE can be smooth for an operator with the integration or reuse of its existing 2G and 3G infrastructure assets as this would reduce upfront investment. LTE offers a lower cost per bit of capacity as compared to current 3G networks.
Current status of 3G
At present, 3G networks support services such as internet access, mobile TV and videoconferencing. Though the technology was launched over two years ago, it has not witnessed the desired level of uptake due to high costs and poor service.
In this context, service providers should focus on the quality of service (QoS). The real challenge for network operators is to develop solutions for QoS. This would help an existing user migrate to the new technology. It remains to be seen how data rates are affected once LTE reaches the current levels of 2G and 3G uptake.
Theoretically, 4G (3.9G/LTE) should be able to provide average downlink speeds of 100 Mbps for high-mobility users and up to 1 Gbps for low-mobility users. 4G is being considered as a game changer for the industry as it offers five times the speed offered by 3G. However, LTE adoption by Indian operators has been slow. So far, these services have been launched only in two cities.
Challenges
High speed networks are capable of supporting services like voice, data, images and video. These services have different requirements in terms of bandwidth, cell loss, etc. The goal is to optimise the QoS offered during high network congestion resulting from the various requirements of these services. High-usage conditions are the true test of a network. The components of a 3G/4G network require comprehensive testing of radio frequency; protocol; radio resource management; and system-level elements, including base stations, handsets and network infrastructure.
Global LTE deployment vis-?-vis India
LTE has now been accepted as the future of commercial wireless communication by operators globally. In comparison, in India, telecom service providers were allocated contiguous 20 MHz broadband wireless spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band. LTE-time division duplex (LTE-TDD) is the most viable option for Indian operators, given its low deployment costs.
Currently, operators are concentrating only on offering broadband wireless access (BWA) and voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. Once VoLTE is standardised, companies will be able to use circuit switched fallback for voice calls over LTE networks. However, smartphones supporting LTE-TDD are still not available in India. As the penetration of 3G services has been slow, it would be interesting to see if LTE would be accepted any faster in India.
Road map
Going forward, BWA penetration is expected to increase with the launch of satellite-based personal networks, home automation networks, WLAN and wireless internet services. New broadband wireless technologies are likely to result in an increase in the expenditure on WLAN equipment over the next five years.
The telecom market in India is moving from voice to data. Several wireless network operators believe that LTE 3.9G offers the best value proposition to increase network capacity, improve QoS and enhance data rates, while reducing the cost of ownership. Operators worldwide are increasingly investing in LTE networks and LTE 3.9G has already been deployed by over 250 operators in 87 countries. LTE Advanced (4G) is the likely successor of LTE 3.9G, which is expected to further enhance network capacity and user experience.
