China Mobile inks co-operation deal with Vodafone
China Mobile has announced that it has signed a strategic co-operation framework deal with Vodafone.
According to the deal, the two companies will continue their co-operation in areas including exchange of corporate management, technical and operational expertise, Enhanced Roaming Services, Multinational Customers, Green Technology, Network Roadmap Management, Joint Innovation and R&D, and Promotion of converged LTE technology and LTE terminal development. This would improve competitiveness and influence on international organization, value chain and industry by partnership in management, technology and operation.
In 2008, China Mobile joined the LTE trials that were already being carried out by Vodafone and Verizon Wireless. A few months later, China Mobile, Japan’s Softbank and Vodafone also set up a Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) to promote the development of new mobile technologies, applications and services.
Apple, Google aims to buy Nortel’s Patent Portfolio (Canada)
Canada’s Nortel Networks is reportedly close on completing the bidding for its patent portfolio as part of its post-bankruptcy protection wind-down, while both Apple and Google have been suggested as potential bidders.
Nortel has a portfolio of over 4,000 patents, which has been valued at least US$1 billion.
As bids for the patents can be expected from the usual technology vendors, it is speculated that Apple’s interest is more defensive as it seeks to build up a portfolio of patents to settle its ongoing legal battle with Nokia etc.
Most mobile technology firms engaged in patent lawsuits settle by means of reciprocal licensing of their patent portfolios, an option which puts new entrants such as Apple and Google at a distinct disadvantage.
A Fairfield Resources study last year estimated that there are 105 patent families deemed essential to deployment of LTE technology, with Nokia controlling 57 of those families. Ericsson is said to control 14 families, while Nortel, Qualcomm and Sony are each reported to control about seven families.
According to reports, the patents were likely divided and classified under six blocks of related technologies. Breaking the patent portfolio into smaller lots is expected to have enabled potential buyers to increase the value of their bids without the risk of paying for unwanted assets.
Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 and has been slowly selling off its assets to other telecoms vendors.
Telecom Italia Upgrades Mobile Data Network
Telecom Italia has planned the launch of a 21Mbps upgrade to its network in Rome and Milan this December, with plans to expand the upgrade across the country.
According to Franco Bernab¨, Telecom Italia’s CEO, this venture confirms the company’s decision to take a 360-degree approach to broadband evolution in Italy spanning both landlines and mobile, and to pioneer technological innovation. Telecom Italia’s number one business priority is to evolve, upgrade and adapt the network to cater to customer demand across the country.
By the end of 2011, 42 Mbit/s services are scheduled for first rollout; by the end of 2012, services powered by new LTE-technology network will gradually be rolled out. LTE trials were recently completed in Turin at actual data transmission speeds in excess of 100 Megabits per second per cell.
In 2010, the TIM network will handle around 60 petabytes of traffic, 15 times more than the 4 petabytes it carried in 2007. In 2013, the company expects to handle 150 petabytes of traffic.
By the end of this year, approximately 25% of the mobile network will benefit from links between aerials and the fibre-optic backbone, Ethernet over ADSL or next-generation radio relays. By 2013, more than 80% of TIM cell sites will be equipped with high-speed links.
According to Oscar Cicchetti, Head of Technology & Operations at Telecom Italia, the company wants the TIM mobile network to remain number one for quality and performance, which is why it they are continuing to invest in technology and services. Over the next 24 months, they will be increasing voice and data coverage, enhancing cell capacity, connecting most of sites with fibre optics, and developing new platforms and new services to ensure that they offer clients an outstanding traditional service and mobile internet experience. Over the next three years, over a thousand Technology & Operations operatives will be working on this project and upgrading 15 cell sites per day.
AT&T contracts Ericsson, Alca-Lu to get LTE network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news:? AT&T has selected telecom equipment vendors L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. and Alcatel-Lucent as suppliers for a next-generation wireless network for the company.
The popularity of smartphones, netbooks and other mobile devices has increased the data traffic as a result of which industry analysts expect telecom operators across the globe to start rolling out LTE networks from 2010.
The two firms will provide both LTE equipment and services to design, deploy and optimize the network for AT&T under the terms of the multiyear contract. AT&T plans field trials of LTE technology later this year, and commercial deployment is expected to begin in 2011.
Both Ericsson and Alcatel were chosen by Verizon Communications a year ago to build the first fourth-generation wireless network in the U.S.
Orange, Alca-Lucent join hands to develop next-gen content
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Development of next-generation content and communication services based on LTE technology by French businesses will be made easy by the pooling of resources by Orange and Alcatel Lucent. R&D and expertise to simplify content creation by SMEs in France’s Loire and Brittany regions will be combined by the company.
ImaginLab platform will conduct most of the testing with additional validation provided by the two group’s own testing suites. Human, technological, business and financial resources will also be accessed by the SME’s to assist them in developing applications fit for high-speed fixed and mobile networks.
Orange’s Vincent Marcatt© and Alcatel-Lucent’s G©rard Le Bihan have been appointed as co-directors, to ensure the smooth running of the program.
150Mbps Download Speed achieved by Telefónica, O2 by Huawei’s LTE Network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Huawei became the first of Telefonica’s trial LTE vendors to have successfully implemented a live trial LTE network performed in the Slough area, the headquarters of O2 in the UK. Cell peak downlink rate of 150Mbps was achieved during the trial.
Recently, Telef³nica, O2 announced the commencement of 4G LTE/SAE (System Architecture Evolution) technology trails. According to Derek McManus, CTO of O2 UK, the successful trials will allow the company to better understand this emerging technology besides helping them to offer mobile broadband services to its next generation customers.
Samuel Sun, Managing Director of Huawei UK feels that the trials will give an excellent reference to Telef³nica O2 for the evaluation of LTE technology.
Wireless companies collaborate on LTE licensing
Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, others agree on royalty rates for LTE-equipped products.
A number of the world’s biggest equipment vendors Monday announced they are working together to establish licensing standards for 3G LTE patents.
Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, NextWave Wireless, plus handset vendors Nokia and Sony Ericsson said they are hoping to encourage early adoption of the mobile broadband technology by licensing intellectual property rights (IPR) on a fair and reasonable basis.
This means royalty rates will be based on the licensors’ proportional share of the IPR for each type of product.
“The patent licensing market requires basic rules in order to properly develop and function,” said Ilka Rahnasto, vice president of intellectual property rights at Nokia, in a statement.
“Today’s announcement is a step towards establishing more predictable and transparent licensing costs in a manner that enables faster adoption of new technologies,” he said.
For example, all the companies have agreed that a reasonable aggregate royalty rate for LTE essential IPR in mobile handsets is set at less than 10% of the sale price.
For computers embedded with LTE technology, the companies said they have agreed on a single-digit dollar amount as the maximum aggregate royalty level.
“Today’s devices contain a multitude of different technologies. To ensure all patent holders are treated fairly without stifling the market, it would be preferable for patent holders to offer reasonable terms,” commented Ken Stanwood, executive vice president of technology and standards, NextWave Wireless.
Also, China Mobile in February gave LTE a further boost when it was reported that it will test the technology and back it as the flagship standard for next generation mobile networks.
As of February China Mobile had 384.35 million subscribers.
However, despite Monday’s announcement, coupled with some predictions of widespread LTE network deployments by as early as 2009, external factors could delay the rollout and therefore up-take of LTE, according to Aircom CEO Margaret Rice-Jones.
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