LTE storms the floor for mobile operators and handset makers

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The presence of LTE has really never been felt more strongly than it was this week in Las Vegas. A constant thread that ran throughout the week was that operators really need more spectrum to provide consumers with the services they want. This is particularly important with LTE just looming around the corner – so we’re taking a look at some of the biggest LTE news from the floor of CTIA

What’s this LTE business?

I’ll keep this simple: LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It’s the planned upgrade to current 3G mobile phone networks, and it has been in the works for a long time now. LTE networks will cover more area from a single mast, allow faster upload and download speeds, and are designed to be easily upgradeable for when future data needs climb even higher.  It’s based around using data as the basis for ALL telecoms – those services that were traditionally “mobile” or “landline” will now be rolled into a single, Internet Protocol architecture along with your home and mobile broadband services.

So what was the news?

LTE phones: there were two major handset announcements concerning 4G at CTIA. Sprint and HTC announced the HTC EVO 4G – a very snappy smartphone with a ridiculously large screen that will run on the Clearwire/Sprint WiMAX networks.

But reports indicate that there was much more buzz over the LTE phone from Samsung. The phone has an unfortunately god-awful name… the SCH-r900 will be offered by pre-paid specialist MetroPCS, and will run on both CDMA and the LTE network that MetroPCS will be running out. Outside of that, there weren’t any real details.

LTE networks: MetroPCS was quite vague about it’s LTE rollout… but Verizon was incredibly definite. VP of network operations Tony Malone said that Verizon will have a massive 4G presence by the end of 2010, and plans to have it’s entire network covered by LTE by 2013. It also announced that Alcatel-Lucent will be providing it’s much needed network upgrade to handle 4G.

LTE prizes!: The coveted “emerging tech” award from CTIA went to HumanKiosk – an LTE-focused digital signage company. The idea of the service is that a digital screen in a store can be more than just a display unit. Using LTE technology, it can run promotions as well as provide a direct 2-way communication between a shopper and a representative for whatever company is running the promotion.

What we think?

Earlier this week I asked the question “could the slow launch for LTE cause WiMAX to grab a lot of market share before it?”. Now I’m thinking the answer is “no”. In most arenas, WiMAX is being seen simply as very fast Wi-Fi. But the excitement that surrounds LTE at an operator and OEM level is far beyond that. It has rallied the imaginations of the hardware and software makers in a way that I haven’t seen before.