DiGi prepares for LTE

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DIGI Telecommunications Bhd is currently conducting LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology trials and the company said it hopes to have it rolled out by January 2013 depending on the award of the 2.6GHz spectrum.

LTE is a standard of wireless communication for high-speed data and is based on GSM network technologies. It features peak download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 75Mbps. The quality, however, is subject to the distance a device is from a base tower.

In comparison the latest 3G technology, HSPA+, provides download speeds of 56Mbps and upload speeds of up to 22Mbps.

To prepare for LTE, DiGi is modernising its network to make it LTE-ready and is swapping its entire 2G and 3G network to a brand new single radio access network.

According to Joachim Rajaram, DiGi's head of communications, the new network will be able to deliver higher speeds and cover a larger area. "We are also addressing the backbone of our operations to ensure we have the capacity and strength to stimulate and manage data demand," he said.

Stein Erik Paulsen, technology strategy officer at Telenor Group, which is DiGi's parent company, said LTE is the next big jump in telecommunications technology and the industry has a lot of expectations for it.

He said consumers can expect better and faster mobile broadband connectivity through LTE.

"However, the industry cannot afford to make the mistakes it did with 3G deployment. Timing is crucial when deploying LTE," Paulsen said.

He said 3G was already a matured technology when it was introduced in the Malaysian market but most of users weren't prepared for it. "There was no proper market strategy to get consumers excited over it," Paulsen added.

When deploying LTE, Paulsen said service providers will need to strike a balance between spotting the sites and following the market.

If not done correctly, the industry may run into the same roadblocks it did when deploying 3G, he said.

With LTE, one base station could theoretically cover an area of up to 70km, however the strength of the signal will depend on the distance from the tower and the number of devices used.

"The signal may also be affected if the user is indoors. One way to work around this is to have repeater cells in the buildings," he said.

LTE has already been deployed in countries like Sweden and Norway but devices are still limited to dongles.

It is also being used in the United States by emergency responders to communicate with their command centres efficiently.