Wireless Connectivity

The wireless connectivity space is heating up just like the temperature outside, and as the industry continues to expand, LTE (News - Alert) or 4G services are beginning to be looked upon as the best solution that has the functionality needed in order measure up to increasing demands from consumers.

Recent findings from Informa’s (News - Alert) report entitled, “Successful LTE Strategies” reveals that around 70 percent of all telecom operators agree that now is the best time to begin utilizing LTE services and 60 percent will be launching these innovative solutions by the end of next year.

According to a survey, some of the most prominent reasons operators are launching LTE is to drive revenue at 34.7 percent; enhance capacity for mobile broadband services coming in at 23.3 percent; and to ramp up brand awareness tallied at approximately 31.3 percent. 

Still relatively new, big wig LTE operators such as Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless and AT&T are already proving that this is just what consumers are looking for when attempting to use their multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets.

“Because LTE technology, at the moment at least, is an extension of the mobile broadband experience, initial evidence suggests that mobile users aren’t prepared to pay a significant premium for LTE access,” Paul Lambert, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media (News - Alert) said in a statement.

He added, “Most of the operators that have been successful in signing up LTE subscribers have decided not to charge a premium for 4G access, but instead are bundling it into existing data plans. When operators have done this, and effectively communicated the benefits 4G offers, market reaction has been very positive. This indicates that 4G should, in the first instance at least, be seen as a way to improve the overall mobile broadband experience rather than as a way to generate ‘new revenue.’”

When implementing LTE, users can dramatically increase both download and upload speeds for video, much better use the available spectrum, reduce latency, lower per-gigabyte transport coasts and take away the complexity associated with a network’s architecture, a recent article highlighted.

However, although LTE powers a much richer user experience, there are some obstacles that can rear their ugly heads when first implementing this system including a network being overwhelmed by the amount of traffic caused by new apps and services that now enabled by LTE.

“While the outlook for LTE network-roll-outs is extremely positive, the industry as a whole needs to resolve key challenges that are barriers to uptake: these include fragmentation arising from the proliferation of spectrum bands used for LTE worldwide, the provision of voice over LTE, the availability of smartphones, and LTE roaming,” Lambert concluded.