Ericsson lobbies for LTE in India

As Qualcomm prepares to bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum in India with the intention to deploy TD-LTE, the world's largest infrastructure supplier, Ericsson, has begun making the case as to why LTE in the band makes more sense than WiMAX.

Ericsson is warning bidders that WiMAX cannot effectively be deployed in the 20 megahertz of spectrum the Indian government plans to auction for broadband services. The government is auctioning two slots at 20 megahertz apiece in the TDD band as early as next week. Some 11 bidders are vying for a license.

"It is commonly known in the industry that WiMAX requires minimum 30 megahertz of spectrum, whereas India is offering only 20 MHz and this may result in severe interference problems," Ericsson Chief Technology Officer Haken Eriksson said. He added that "LTE as technology is already launched, and is just months away from large scale deployments."

Meanwhile, the WiMAX Forum has been lobbying the Indian government for years to proceed with the auction that has had several starts and delays. The constant delays may have allowed LTE to catch up. Wrapping up the Indian market would be a major coupe for either technology in terms of economies of scale and maturity.

For more:
- see this Economic Times article

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