All the big vendors are planning to tout their 4G wares at the upcoming CTIA
conference. The race is on to establish LTE leadership so vendors are gearing up
for the latest battle. In the U.S., both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have
announced plans to migrate to LTE.
Danny Locklear, director of wireless
product marketing at Nortel, said in an interview that the infrastructure vendor
believes it can differentiate itself from competitors by focusing on LTE for
CDMA operators. Locklear also says that rumors that CDMA is declining are wrong
and he expects there to be a lot of focus on Rev. A applications such as VOIP
and video at the conference. "There are new players and large expansions taking
place. CDMA technology will be healthy for the next three years," Locklear
said.
On the WiMAX front, interoperability is the focus as different
devices or consumer premises equipment, are being tested. CTIA may be too early
for WiMAX devices to make their debut but vendors say the interoperability will
be a
hot topic at the confab.
"Multiple vendors and CPEs are doing
interoperability testing and getting certification," said Tom Gruba, senior
director of WIMAX product marketing for Motorola, in an interview. "That is
going on now."
Of course, all eyes will be on Sprint, which is gearing up
for the commercial launch of its first few WiMAX markets. Dan Hesse, Sprint's
new CEO is scheduled to keynote the conference on April 1 and Barry West, CTO
and president of Xohm will be the keynote speaker at FierceMarkets' Path to 4G
collocated conference on April 2 at 4:15 p.m. --Sue