By
Telecom Lead Team:
China Mobile and Clearwire, a provider of 4G wireless broadband services
in the United States, announced their agreement on common test
specifications and joint interoperability testing (IOT) for TD-LTE devices in
the global band configurations, including 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz.
This
important step forward will enable the companies to further accelerate
development of the TD-LTE device ecosystem, especially in multi-mode,
multi-band LTE devices.
Clearwire
plans to conduct its TD-LTE common IOT in Phoenix, AZ and Herndon,
VA. China Mobile’s testing will be carried out in Beijing and other
TD-LTE trial cities. The joint test platforms will be open for device IOT by
key participants in early 2012.
China
Mobile, Clearwire and other operators will establish 4G mobile broadband labs
featuring a joint test platform and IOT environment for TD-LTE devices. The
availability of the Quad-Band LTE 2.3-2.7 GHz spectrum range, in addition to
certain other bands like 1.9GHz, as well as FDD and TD-LTE mobility interactions,
makes it an ideal global configuration for mass 4G marketing worldwide.
The
labs will allow for the evaluation and qualification of commercial TD-LTE
devices simultaneously in the U.S., China, and other promising markets,
using common testing methodology, equipment, and infrastructure.
“The
unmatched spectrum portfolio underlying Clearwire’s planned LTE network has the
potential to deliver faster speeds and with greater capacity than any current
or proposed 4G network in the United States,” said John Saw, chief
technology officer of Clearwire.
Collaboration
with China Mobile accelerates the development of multi-mode multi-band TD-LTE
and LTE FDD devices and provides the common test specifications OEMs, ODMs,
chipset vendors and other critical component manufacturers need to rapidly
develop and commercialize products to serve this massive global marketplace.
“Converged
with LTE FDD, TD-LTE has become the major global 4G technology for unpaired
spectrum. Our goal is to build efficient, low cost common infrastructure and
terminal for different global markets with different spectrum to support mobile
internet. By working with global operators such as Clearwire, we could leverage
the experience, expertise, and scale to achieve this goal. This is also the
reason why we create GTI and promote it jointly,” said Li Zhengmao, vice
president of China Mobile.
