Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) Announced to Promote the Deployment of TD-LTE Networks

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- The third LTE TDD/FDD International Summit has been held here today and around 400 senior executives from more than 60 global operators and 30 technology vendors have participated. Representatives from key operators and technology vendors shared with the wide ranging participants the TD-LTE deployment plans from global operators and the latest development status of end to end products. After more than 3 years of development, TD-LTE, an international standard 4G mobile technology developed by 3GPP, has emerged as the premium choice for the deployment of mobile broadband networks worldwide.

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One of the key events at the Summit is the Kick-off of the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI). The kick-off ceremony was attended by Mr. Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary-General of ITU, Mr. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile Communications Corporation, Mr. Sunil Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, and Mr. Masayoshi Son, Chairman of Softbank Mobile whom were also joined hands by representatives from Vodafone, Clearwire, Area2 and E-Plus together with Mr. Craig Ehrlich, former-chairman of GSMA and chairman of GTI Steering Committee. GSMA also delivered endorsement for GTI. The seven initiators of GTI also extend invitations to all operators and technology vendors who are interested in promoting TD-LTE as a global standard to join GTI and its activities.

GTI will focus on creating value for stakeholders across the TD-LTE ecosystem to promote the fast development of the technology, promoting the convergence of LTE TDD and FDD modes to maximize the economies of scale, and sharing ecosystem with other TDD technology, e.g. eXtended Global Platform (XGP) to establish a growth focused business environment. The initiative aims to bring together leading industry partners to steer the TD-LTE ecosystem as a major standard in mobile broadband technology & drive the development of next generation mobile broadband networks.

TD-LTE technology has found increasing support in Asia Pacific as well as in Europe and America, with the backing of more than 70 companies from across the mobile ecosystem. The convergence of TDD and FDD LTE technology, would create the most advanced mobile internet infrastructure and last mile wireless access technologies for the world and its combined global scale will bring to the market the highest performance, the widest selection and the most cost effective of end user devices. These devices would include the likes of USB modem and dongle, PC card, router, personal Wi-Fi hotspot, Smartphone, tablet and gaming devices.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary-General of ITU, said, "GTI is a pioneering effort by the leading global telcos. This joint effort will play a key role in helping to realize the potential of wireless broadband and power transformational projects in key areas like health, medicine, banking and education. GTI will help spur the development and adoption of a robust and scalable broadband ecosystem that will help usher in a new era for convergence and inclusion."

"Mobile Internet era will be the era of TDD. The development of mobile broadband highlights the unique flexible advantage of TDD spectrum," said Mr. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile Communications Corporation, "China Mobile has been committed to the converged development of LTE TDD and FDD, which will achieve the economy of scale and the wide support from global industry. With great effort from all partners, TD-LTE enters commercialization and global deployment. In 2010 World Expo, TD-LTE demo network successfully demoed TD-LTE's strong capability to 73 operators and institutes and more than 4000 visitors. Around the end of 2010, China Mobile started large-scale TD-LTE test network deployments in seven big cities and pre-commercial deployments will start in 2011. Besides China, until now more than 20 TD-LTE trial networks were built in India, Europe, and North America etc. To unit our partners to build a strong and thriving TD-LTE industry, we are here today to initiate an open platform for TD-LTE global industry which is called Global TD-LTE Initiative. Together with the industry, GTI will build the most robust network base platform for our mobile Internet dream."

To accelerate the development of TD-LTE, GTI will organize a series of activities such as conferences and workshops, sharing development strategies and technology know-how, expediting the development of terminals and fostering of low-cost terminals, etc. GTI will build on recommendations from both the GSMA and Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) to speed up the development of a global LTE ecosystem.

SOURCE China Mobile Limited