TDD Band 40 (2300MHz) and LTE UEs for Band 40 Tag: TDD Band 40, TDD 2300MHz assignment, LTE CPE for 2300MHz, LTE dongle for band 40, LTE mobile WiFi for band 2300mhz The 2300MHz band has already been defined as a 3GPP eUTRAN band (band 40) based on a Time Division Duplex (TDD) scheme. First significant rollouts have already started in India (Bharti Airtel operator) and in Saudi Arabia (STC operator), with several others following by 2013.
According to the Global Suppliers Association (GSA), 43 commercial devices supporting the 2300MHz band are now available on the market, including multi-band and multi-frequency Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), dongles and portable hotspots, while tablets and smartphones will be commercially available by the end of 2012. Even the early European adopters will be able to rely on the economies of scale that are now being established in other regions thanks to the global identification of the 2300MHz band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) for the IMT family of technologies.
LTE-TDD is now gaining market traction in all regions as it is commonly considered in the evolution path of any wireless cellular TDD technology (TD-SCDMA, UTRA-TDD and WiMAX™). LTE-TDD is an integral part of the 3GPP standards, sharing significant common properties with LTE-FDD and offering comparable performance characteristics with similar high-spectral efficiency. Globally, 80 LTE networks were launched in 38 countries between December 2009 and June 2012. LTE-TDD is now entering maturity stage: 33 trial and 23 commercial LTE-TDD networks launched in Brazil, India, Japan, Poland, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia by April 2012; and several new rollouts will take place in 2012 also involving the USA and all the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). All major network equipment manufacturers stressed the importance of LTE-TDD and have already launched their LTE-TDD solutions. LTE-TDD will reach economies of scale comparable with LTE-FDD in the longer term. With its large spectrum availability (up to 100MHz in the lowest available TDD band in Europe), the 2300MHz band will play a major role within the European ‘TDD bands’ in the short term.
Growing support from global industry for the 2300MHz band is increasingly evident; in March DIGITALEUROPE clearly stated its position in favour of rapid availability of 2300MHz harmonised spectrum across Europe. From an early stage, the European 2300MHz market will be able to leverage economies of scale from global TDD consolidation, enabled by the ITU-R global allocation, and by the growing availability of spectrum, as well as the arrival of suitable end-user devices.
The following diagram provides information on allocations and assignments among key 2300MHz markets: