“Real 4G”: a comparison of IMT-Advanced candidate technologies

This report provides a high-level overview of the two candidate International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) technologies: 3GPP LTE-Advanced and IEEE 802.16m. It analyzes the main technical features of both technologies, gives a brief update on their respective standard development status, and explores their respective market development potential. Ovum believes that any merging or convergence of these technologies will favor LTE-Advanced. In that context, we believe that the WiMAX community should continue to pursue its hard work in developing the 16e ecosystem.



Report Highlights

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Executive summary
In a nutshell
Ovum view
Key messages
ITU and IMT-Advanced
Definition
High-level view
More details on IMT-Advanced requirements
IMT-Advanced technologies are “real 4G” technologies
IMT-Advanced technology selection process
Candidate technologies for IMT-Advanced
From step 5, further evaluation of the candidate technologies will be conducted up to standard completion
Focus on LTE-Advanced
Overview of LTE-Advanced technology
Standardization progress
Performance requirements
Key features
Release 10 is likely to be the starting point for fixed–mobile convergence (FMC) in the core
Vendor and operator activities in LTE-Advanced
Early demonstrations of LTE-Advanced by a number of vendors
Several operators have been involved in LTE-Advanced projects and demonstrations
Focus on IEEE 802.16m
Overview of 16m technology
Standardization progress
Performance requirements
Key 16m features
Operators and vendors looking at 16m
Samsung is the most vocal supporter of 16m
Operators looking at 16m
What is the future for LTE-Advanced and 16m?
From an evolutionary path perspective, 16m is critical for 16e, but how successful is 16m likely to be?
LTE-Advanced will benefit from the expected large installed LTE base
Is there any likelihood of the two technologies converging?




List of Tables
Table 1: Detailed IMT-Advanced requirements
Table 2: Accepted candidate technologies for IMT-Advanced
Table 3: High-level comparison of LTE and LTE-Advanced
Table 4: Key LTE-Advanced features and their impact
Table 5: Latest LTE-Advanced demonstrations/announcements
Table 6: High-level comparison of 16e and 16m






List of Figures
Figure 1: Schedule for the development of IMT-Advanced radio interface recommendations
Figure 2: Use of CoMP technology for downlink
Figure 3: LTE-Advanced “Type 1” relay
Figure 4: NSN’s demonstration of LTE-Advanced relay technology


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