‘3G HSPA will be the main technology carrier and LTE will complement it’
What is Ericsson’s technology focus and strategy in the current industry environment in India?
India is no different from the rest of the world. Right now, Ericsson is very much engaged in broadband. With 3G systems being rolled out, we see a great future for mobile broadband. Along with mobile broadband, there are a lot of devices with 3G HSPA and TD-LTE, which we are promoting here. 3G HSPA will be the main technology carrier and LTE will complement it in India. We see the similar usage pattern as we see in the other parts of the world like North America and Europe. For the early adopters, who have smartphones and broadband, the usage pattern is same. However what we need to put in India is, of course, a good coverage. So that users have mobile broadband basically wherever they are located, and we are just in the initial stages of that. Till now in India, 3G does not have a full coverage; and we haven’t started to roll out LTE in India. That’s why it’s only the beginning.
What’s your take on LTE trials and the recent win with Augere?
We know the importance of TDD-LTE in 2.3 GHZ band in India and since Augere is the first to have this, we are more than happy to win the LTE contract with Augere for obvious reasons. Back in 2010 we had LTE trials, and we continued those trials even this year, with full commercial equipment and mobility, which has given a good experience on the stability and performance of the equipment. Next year, we are in full implementation plan for the rollout. This is an ongoing activity for many years, since LTE started many years ago. However from the next year onwards, we will see commercial rollout with dongles, USB modems to start with.
What according to you is the prime concern operators are facing in terms of optimization of their networks?
Right now the big concern in India is in terms of very limited availability of spectrum, which is only 5 MHZ allocated to the big operators. Every other country is allocating almost fully, but in India it is not fully allocated. In that sense, it is a big challenge for the operators to really grow in India, as more spectrum needs to be allocated in India over time. So, the first step is to allocate 1GHZ support to all of them, 5MHZ slot to the biggest operators. Today, you have a good coverage with micro base stations; however over the time with so limited spectrum in India, operators will have to add more small cells inside the network to serve all the customers.
akankshas@cybermedia.co.in