Everything Everywhere shows promise in 2012?

[Ben]

Just as I'd written off supertelco Everything Everywhere, plans have been made public regarding their 2012 LTE launch. Yes, that's right, live LTE in 2012 from Everything Everywhere.

The group plans to use 1800MHz spectrum to launch LTE ahead of rival operators. Bristol is already enjoying some LTE coverage at this frequency as part of a trial, but continuation of the plan is subject to regulatory approval. Given that the regulator granted use of 900MHz for 3G, I don't think it'll be a problem, but there could be interference concerns or something like that.

The news comes as EE confirms 60% of its 3G network is now HSPA+ enabled at 21mbps. This will be completed by the end of Q3, at which time 42mbps HSPA+ rollout will begin. CEO Olaf Swantee also confirms that Orange and T-Mobile 3G network integration is in its final phase and completion should take place in mid-May.

Could 2012 be an 'Orange Spring'? EE is certainly a sleeping giant; if it wakes up and gets serious about its data network it has the resources to bend the rules of the game.

http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/articles/everything-everywhere-targets-4g-launch-by-year-end/22430?elq=5fee1f2813334fd5a086655b93516808

[Wilt]

How many phones are going to be released that support LTE at 1800Mhz?

[Ben]

I assume Orange have a trial/launch device and a data device that are compatible.

I'd imagine handsets are going to become vastly more capable when it comes to the bands they can operate in due to fragmentation around the world as LTE is squeezed into gaps.

[hecatae]

How many phones are going to be released that support LTE at 1800Mhz?

http://www.gsacom.com/news/gsa_342.php4

http://www.telecoms.com/27870/european-giants-call-for-1800mhz-device-support-for-lte/

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/900-1800mhz-wireless-telegraphy/statement/Statement.pdf


3.11 Ofcom does intend to liberalise the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum
for other systems such as LTE and WiMAX when the European work on
defining appropriate technical conditions has completed. We envisage
that these changes will be made in the course of 2011.

Would quote and post more, but yeah we may have 4 LTE bands in Europe

Oh and http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=462486

Telstra australia has already launched LTE at 1800 MHZ

[3GScottishUser]

Doubt if it'll be phones EE will market first, more likely will be data dongles and MifFi devices.

Vodafone and 02 could follow EE as they both have some 1800Mhz bandwidth and perhaps Vodafone might leapfrog others by refarming 900Mhz for LTE rather than using it for UMTS.

Lots of options and now Virgin Media have stated they are testing 2600Mhz LTE in cities with small wireless backhall boxes that can be placed discretely in telco cabinets, shop frontage signs etc. Virgin media are not ruling out bidding for their own bandwidth for LTE in the Autumn and if that is the case I would not rule out BT making a pitch as both companies now need to protect themselves from losing fixed line business to mobile operators.

[Hands0n]

In the USA they've gone LTE with smartphones first. The chances are more than likely that manufacturers will want to offload their production runs in the UK as well.

That said, I do expect to see Dongle, MiFi and 'Cube devices very rapidly, if not at launch.

But the reality is that LTE will be for the year 2013. This year, at best, we will see the emerging networks with all of the same problems that we saw with 3G when it launched.

[Ben]

LTE will definitely have more of a smartphone significance than 3G did. I think the networks are pretty desperate to offload smartphone users onto a more efficient network. While individual dongle/mifi users may consume more than individual smartphone users in bandwidth terms, I bet there is now a much larger volume of smartphone traffic in total than there is dongle traffic. There are just so many more smartphones out there now - something like 60% of all new phone sales are smartphones.

[Hands0n]

The genie is well and truly out of the bottle now. There is nothing that the mobile network operators can do about it unless their form a cartel (*cough* GSMA *cough*) at which point government would probably intervene with regulation as they've shown willing to do this past few years.

No, the networks will have to either evolve or go to the wall.