Abstract

LTE Services in Taiwan Slated to Begin Commercialization in 2017; Spectrum Has Yet to be Released

Telecom operators will have to obtain spectrum resources needed to provide commercial LTE services first before they begin to deploy related-network equipment. Management of spectrum resources is regulated by national policies. For example, the Swedish and Norwegian governments completed their auction of 2.6GHz spectrums in May 2008 and November 2007, respectively. The US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) launched 700MHz spectrum auction in April 2008. The MIC (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) of Japan conducted a public consultation and allocated 1.5GHz- and 1.7GHz-LTE spectrum to four telecom operators. The release schedule of spectrum licenses is directly related to the pace of LTE commercialization of the abovementioned telecom operator in respective countries.

WiMAX carriers, as well as other telecom operators in Taiwan, such as Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and Far Eastone, have revealed interests in deploying LTE commercial networks in the future. Nevertheless, it is projected that all 700MHz spectrum will not be totally returned to the government until 2013. Moreover, in spite of the fact that WiMAX carriers have owned 2.5MHz spectrum licenses, they have to obtain approvals from the telecom authority first in order to change their business operations. It is estimated that deployment of network equipment will take approximately two years, thus, it is projected that Taiwan's commercial LTE networks will be officially launched around 2017. Still, earlier kick off of the commercial LTE networks will bring benefits to the telecom industry in Taiwan.

CSFB, IMS Expected to become Mainstream Voice over LTE Technology Solutions

With an aim to allow a full-IP LTE network to perform voice communications services, voice over LTE technology solutions, such as IMS, CSFB, and VoLGA, are developed. If taking the network transition time, CPE maturity, and LTE deployment time into consideration, telecom operators are projected to adopt the CSFB solution in the short run and the IMS solution in the long run.

Looking at the example of NTT DoCoMo, it is observed that most of the company's LTE networks are deployed in populous areas, and the coverage of the networks are smaller than that of its existing 2G/3G networks. Furthermore, mobile devices which support LTE VoIP are currently not available in Japan. It is projected that NTT DoCoMo will choose the CSFB solution to perform voice over LTE during the transition period and fully utilizes its existing 2G/3G mobile network equipment. It is expected that only after LTE coverage expands and the development of mobile devices equipped with LTE VoIP support reaches maturity, NTT DoCoMo will begin to provide the IMS-based voice over LTE services.

Like NTT DoCoMo, MetroPCS also deploys its LTE networks mainly in large cities, and coverage of the LTE networks is much smaller than the company's existing CDMA2000 1x networks. Upon the initial launch of MetroPCS' LTE services, a dual-mode mobile phone, dubbed the Samsung Craft, was also introduced. Nevertheless, the Craft runs based on Samsung's own-developed OS, so it is difficult to install SIP client software on the device. MetroPCS' voice over LTE services are thus, projected to be made available by adopting the CSFB solution. The VoLGA solution also delivers LTE voice communications service over CS lines, but since the solution does not win support from the telecom industry, it is forecasted that the CSFB and IMS will become the mainstream candidate technologies for voice over LTE services in the future.

Appendix

Glossary of Terms

List of Companies