As fast as technology in general moves, the mobile device industry is moving even faster. One of the major drivers of this massive growth is the adoption by users of smartphones that eat up bytes over the carrier networks. As a result, the big US carriers have been moving with great haste toward faster 4G data standards. As it turns out, this is what’s exerting pressure to change the industry forever.
Not all bands are created equal
In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) controls wireless spectrum in order to reduce the possibility of interference. Companies can obtain licenses for various blocks of spectrum, but the cellular carriers are some of the largest consumers of frequencies. The licenses granted by the FCC are limited in scope, but carriers often try to assemble national licenses. You might not be aware, but your carrier lives and dies by its spectrum.
Spectrum is often auctioned off as a way of re-purposing it, with the most recent example being the 700MH auction in 2008. The 700MH band was originally used for analog TV broadcasts, but in the auction AT&T and Veri on snagged large swaths of it for rolling out 4G data. Parts of the 700MH range also went to smaller players.
In the US, cellular products operate between 700MH and 2500MH , depending on carrier. A lower frequency signal is, in general, more reliable. As with everything on the electromagnetic spectrum, higher cellular frequencies suffer more interference from physical obstacles. A 700MH signal is going to penetrate a building much better than a 2500MH signal. Higher frequencies are still useful for rolling out rural broadband where there are fewer obstacles.
Mismatched LTE
Veri on has been developing its 4G LTE network for the last year, and runs in the 746-787MH range. AT&T on the other hand is running devices at 704-746MH . There is no overlap in actual deployed technology, although OEMs could make antennas that work with both bands. The only problem with that is that no one is doing any such thing.
The hope that having LTE rolled out across the biggest mobile carriers in the US would make things more compatible, appears to be unfounded. This is a major issue for rural carriers that will continue to be locked to roaming on just one network or another. As voice calls move to 4G from 3G in the next year or two, it’s going to get even more onerous for the smaller players and users alike.
Sprint’s WiMAX woes
The sticking point could be that Sprint will be rolling out that LTE network on 2500MH , just like WiMAX. For all of WiMAX’s consistency and throughput issues, much of its eventual failure may have been due to the high frequency it was running on. Sprint has access to this band nationwide, but as previously discussed, that high frequency makes urban areas very difficult to cover.
One way to a brighter future may be a win for some users, and a loss for others. When Sprint bought up Nextel in what proved to be an ill-conceived endeavor, it got a big piece of 800MH spectrum for iDEN. Sprint plans to slowly shuffle users off of iDEN and onto its more modern networks over the next few years. Come 2013, Sprint should be able to re-purpose that juicy bit of bandwidth for other networks.
The carrier has been vague on just what it plans to do with those waves, but by 2013 LTE-Advanced seems as likely an option as any. It might be a bummer for those few users that rely on iDEN in the workplace, but it’s going to be better for Sprint’s network as a whole.
The AT&T – T-Mobile conundrum
After the deal was announced, AT&T wasted no time confirming that it would quickly transfer AWS to the new AT&T 4G network. AT&T’s 700MH licenses do not cover every market in the US, and likewise the carrier’s AWS licenses are limited. If the T-Mobile deal goes through, AT&T has a full set of AWS licenses covering the entire country. Now that things are looking grim, AT&T might be unable to get its 4G LTE network into all US markets.
While there are definitely reasons to oppose the merger on anti-competitive grounds, AT&T LTE isn’t going to be as accessible in rural areas if it fails. T-Mobile is using AWS for HSPA+, and really doesn’t have a good plan for 4G. The smaller carrier can only push this last generation standard so far before higher ping and slower uploads start to make it look like it’s standing still by comparison. A failed merger also means that AT&T is going to spend another generation playing catchup with Veri on Wireless, which has more extensive 700MH licenses.
The cutthroat world of the wireless industry is changing fast, and it’s the spectrum crunch that’s driving it. Veri on is in the lead with a LTE standard that works well, but AT&T is coming on strong. Although, if the T-Mobile merger doesn’t work out, AT&T won’t have the bands to really compete. Sprint might have a future when iDEN’s 800MH frequencies are freed up, but right now it’s all about starting over on 2500MH with LTE.
How the wireless spectrum crunch is squee ing carriers and hurting consumers
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