iBurst LTE roll-out is planned for 2012

[jes]

iBurst LTE roll-out is planned for 2012

iBurst says that it still plans to roll out a Long Term Evolution network from mid–2012

 

[Ockie]

Mid 2012? So next month? Should be interesting.

 

[Sonic2k]

*yawn* still totally shaped I bet i.e. no p2p works at all

 

[InTheCube]

How much spectrum do they have, and is it sufficient for rolling out a decent LTE networK? What is the recommended amount of spectrum needed to deploy LTE?

 

[SteveO]

How much spectrum do they have, and is it sufficient for rolling out a decent LTE networK? What is the recommended amount of spectrum needed to deploy LTE?

From the article they have 30Mhz of TDD spectrum. This is more than enough for LTE, max bandwidth for LTE at the moment is 20Mhz, LTE advanced will enable spectrum aggregation.

Only issue is the use of TDD as its performance on loaded networks is not comparable with FDD. Also TDD is not as widely supported by vendors.

 

[InTheCube]

From the article they have 30Mhz of TDD spectrum. This is more than enough for LTE, max bandwidth for LTE at the moment is 20Mhz, LTE advanced will enable spectrum aggregation.

Only issue is the use of TDD as its performance on loaded networks is not comparable with FDD. Also TDD is not as widely supported by vendors.

Interesting, thanks. What is the difference between TDD and FDD? I know what the acronyms mean, but what are the differences in real world applications? And does this mean they've been assigned TDD by ICASA, and can't switch to FDD? The way I understood it, TDD and FDD is just the signalling algorithm used, and is not assigned by the regulator, or anyone else.

 

[SteveO]

Interesting, thanks. What is the difference between TDD and FDD? I know what the acronyms mean, but what are the differences in real world applications? And does this mean they've been assigned TDD by ICASA, and can't switch to FDD? The way I understood it, TDD and FDD is just the signalling algorithm used, and is not assigned by the regulator, or anyone else.

TDD is unpaired, so you need to push UL and DL signalling and packets over the same frequencies. So for FDD where you have x amount of scheduled packets for DL and another x for UL, you now have (x - y) for DL and y for UL. Usually in an unloaded cell/network you wont notice this as you only really use the DL. But when sharing the resources this becomes a noticeable bottleneck

TDD is only recommended for operators who have unpaired spectrum and want to make use of it.

TDD usually cant be converted to FDD as the UL or DL pairing may be utilised already. Vendors would also need to adapt hardware to work with these new frequencies.

 

[Spasie]

Is Johannesburg and especially Bryanston covered?

 

[InTheCube]

TDD is unpaired, so you need to push UL and DL signalling and packets over the same frequencies. So for FDD where you have x amount of scheduled packets for DL and another x for UL, you now have (x - y) for DL and y for UL. Usually in an unloaded cell/network you wont notice this as you only really use the DL. But when sharing the resources this becomes a noticeable bottleneck

TDD is only recommended for operators who have unpaired spectrum and want to make use of it.

TDD usually cant be converted to FDD as the UL or DL pairing may be utilised already. Vendors would also need to adapt hardware to work with these new frequencies.

Thanks. I learnt something new.

 

[jannievanzyl]

From the article they have 30Mhz of TDD spectrum. This is more than enough for LTE, max bandwidth for LTE at the moment is 20Mhz, LTE advanced will enable spectrum aggregation.

Only issue is the use of TDD as its performance on loaded networks is not comparable with FDD. Also TDD is not as widely supported by vendors.

They only have 15MHz at the moment, hoping to get another allocation from ICASA when the new allocations happen. They should get it.

 

[Ockie]

They only have 15MHz at the moment, hoping to get another allocation from ICASA when the new allocations happen. They should get it.

@jannie. No ways you can refarm some spectrum in our 1800 band to at least start rolling out LTE? All phones support 900mhz also...so this should not have such a big impact on the network. I simply cannot bare the thought of Iburst being first to market with LTE. Die gedagte gee my rerig 'n kramp waar 'n man nooit 'n kramp mag kry nie!