The TDD flavour of LTE was once regarded as a poor relation, utterly reliant on Chinese favors and WiMAX migrations. But carriers round the world are interested in unpaired spectrum to boost their overall capacity and several are already planning to pool FDD and TDD systems within their 4G roadmaps. This will be boosted by various industry initiatives ‘ Ericsson is working on TD/FD hand-off standards, while two trade groups have announced a cooperation pact.
The operator driven NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Network) Alliance has signed a collaboration pact with the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) to work on progressing LTE, treating both strands as a single platform and accelerating convergence efforts. The deal should also allow the groups to exchange intelligence and information, and avoid duplicating projects.
The two bodies say the will work to align technical requirements, share experiences, and identify and carry out joint technical cooperation projects. The aim is to speak with a common voice to standards bodies, operators and the wider community.
Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the steering committee of GTI, said in a statement: ‘GTI is committed to deliver one global LTE standard. GTI will work with the NGMN Alliance and the mobile industry to achieve this goal.’
Peter Meissner, operating officer of the NGMN Alliance, added that the alliance would lead to synergies and convergence, and avoid fragmentation of the market.