Seven of the wireless industry’s leading carriers last week made it clear that they intend to drive the bus instead of just being passengers as fourth-generation networks standards are developed.
China Mobile, KPN, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Orange, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile and Vodafone Group plc formed the Next Generation Mobile Networks initiative and said they plan to develop a common vision for the future of mobile networks technology.
The group said it has created a set of requirements “for a future wide area mobile broadband network designed to offer enhanced customer benefits by delivering competitive broadband performance alongside high levels of interoperability.” In plainer terms, the NGMN appears to be devising a roadmap for interoperable 4G networks.
The group said it will to work alongside existing standards bodies and wants to shape the development and standardization of the next generation of mobile technologies.
Sprint Nextel’s membership in the group is especially notable, since the carrier is the only member not operating a GSM-based network. Sprint Nextel’s participation in the NGMN seems to indicate the carrier’s desire to migrate to an as-yet-undetermined 4G standard, rather than follow the CDMA evolution path as set out by CDMA pioneer Qualcomm Inc.
But Steve Faulk, vice president for global standards at Sprint Nextel, told RCR Wireless News that the carrier plans to continue its aggressive CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A upgrades to go along with its recently announced WiMAX plans for its 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, and insisted that CDMA has been core to the carrier’s success. He pointed out that WiMAX is a complementary technology and noted that so far, most 4G technologies have been based on OFDM. Overall, Faulk said the NGMN hopes to coalesce a “more harmonized” 4G marketplace.
“2G and 3G operators should have had a single, clearer voice as technology standards were being developed,” said Faulk. The NGMN’s guidelines will provide a roadmap for vendors so that they won’t have to guess what carriers want. “It will be clear,” he said, adding that the direction provided by the NGMN will create a win-win situation within the wireless ecosystem.
Faulk also stressed that the group’s technology neutral-stance is a good thing for vendors as they will no longer need to fund multiple, often fragmented research-and-development efforts.
For practicality’s sake, the NGMN team specified that the 4G evolutionary path should focus on existing infrastructure and spectrum allocation as new platforms are developed.
The NGMN initiative outlined the following features as its guiding principles:
- High levels of data throughput alongside low levels of latency;
- Low operation and maintenance costs;
- Compatibility with legacy networks;
- Support of high levels of authentication and security, and differentiated quality of service;
- Improved terminal certification schemes.
“As major players within the industry and heavy consumers of mobile broadband infrastructure, we believe that the future of mobile networks should be determined by a mix of technical and performance standards,” commented Thomas Geitner, head of NGMN. “We are convinced that by drawing on our combined experience and commercial insight as operators, we will be able to bring a whole new perspective to the debate and continue to ensure that we give our customers exactly what they want.” Geitner has been CEO of new business and innovation at Vodafone since April, and has been on the Vodafone board since 2000.
