How will the rollout of 4G (LTE) networks in India take place? Kunal Bajaj, Director (India) for Analysys Mason believes that it will largely be in the following manner: - 2011: there will be data cards and laptop based access to LTE services - 2012 - LTE data enabled devices and tablets will be launched - 2013-14: LTE based Internet Telephony services on smart phones devices will be available. Speaking at a TD-LTE workshop by COAI and CEWIT currently in progress in Delhi, Bajaj said that he believes Voice over LTE will take a few years to develop, and the key challenge there is not about LTE being able to support voice, but more about the technological challenges related to calls being seamlessly transferred from 4G/LTE to other technologies (2G, 3G), so that the voice call doesn't disappear in the middle when the 4G signal drops out. Probable deployment models: Hot Zones In terms of deployment, Bajaj expects that the initial launch will be focused on the urban areas and around June 2011, and this will largely be a 'Hot Zone launch", with certain areas with 4G services available. This type of deployment is more popular in the mid-term, particularly to reduce the load on the networks, where you pick up commuting routes or popular areas CBDs, and can even provide it as fixed usage which is wireless. In between hot-zones, you're asking customers to use 3G. India, China To Lead The Way; Challenges Of the 32 trials of TD-LTE…
