1. SK Telecom launches LTE-A
SK Telecom said it had launched services across a network enhanced with LTE-A features that is available for smartphone users. It said applied Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Coordinated Multi Point (CoMP), and plans to apply Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (eICIC) in 2014.
SKT’s CA combines two 10 MHz components carriers (1.8GHz and 800MHz spectrum bands) to form an effective bandwidth of 20 MHz spectrum bands.
SKT said that although 13 operators, including Verizon, AT&T, NTT Docomo and Telenor, have announced plans to launch LTE-A, and among them Sprint, Telstra, 3 Italia and Yota said that they will do so within this year, it is the first carrier to launch an LTE-A network with LTE-A compatible phones.
SK Telecom’s LTE-A covers the entire Seoul, central areas of 42 cities in Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do, and 103 university areas. Furthermore, the company will gradually expand its LTE-A coverage to 84 cities across the nation.
2. NSN, Claro, first LTE network in Chile
The headline tells you just about all you need to know. Claro has launched the first LTE network in Chile, using single RAN Flexi Multiradio gear from sole-supplier NSN.
3. Vodafone and Wind Hellas:
The two Greek operators have plans to form a new company to run the network, with a 15 year agreement awaiting approval from authorities.
4. TD-LTE small cell for the Chinese market
Aricent Group has partnered with Fujian Sunnada Communication to develop a TDD LTE small cell solution customised for the Chinese market. Aricent is a provider of software platforms upon which other developers can build product.
5. Skyfire/Opera Software wins Telenor group deal
Skyfire was selected as part of Alcatel-Lucent’s winning optimisation bid across all 11 Telenor countries.
The deal with Telenor is the “biggest video optimisation deal in the industry since Byte Mobile won Sprint”, according to VP EMEA, John Rintoul.
Skyfire’s cloud-based concept “gets away from speeds and feeds on the Gi,” Rintoul said, instead dealing with traffic that is “intelligently steered to be dealt with when needed”.
6. All your messaging infrastructure in one place
Acision launched Fusion, a single converged solution for deploying Value Add Services (VAS). For the first time, Acision Fusion will enable MMS interworking, so RCS users can share pictures and videos to those not RCS enabled. Acision Fusion also provides Common Business Logic across all messaging services for a range of functions including real-time charging, service triggering, message routing, volumetric message rate control, service access and monitoring. Acision Fusion provides a converged solution to deliver a full set of messaging services, including SMS, MMS, voice messaging and Rich Communication Suite (RCS) services.
