November 19 2009 |  3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE, today announced that it has published an educational white paper titled, 3GPP LTE for TDD Spectrum in the Americas. The report provides a top-level overview on the considerations for deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in Time Division Duplex (TDD) technology spectrum in the Americas and recommends LTE TDD as a mobile broadband solution to utilize valuable TDD spectrum assets in the region.
 
“LTE TDD provides a tremendous solution for utilizing the large swaths of fragmented and unpaired TDD spectrum that are present throughout the Americas region,” said Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas. “LTE TDD can be a complementary solution to LTE FDD and serve society’s demands for a global mobile broadband technology.”
 
The white paper explains the technical mechanism in which LTE TDD (also known as TD-LTE) and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) third generation technology deployed in China, are smartly designed with the ability to operate together with great harmonization and efficiency. LTE TDD is a natural migration for TD-SCDMA operators. The technical synergy between LTE TDD and TD-SCDMA operators will thus increase the economies of scale for LTE TDD operators throughout the world.
 
Although operators are making plans for the deployment of LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) technology, the white paper emphasizes that operators, regulators, license holders and investors must strongly consider the significant opportunities behind deployment of LTE in fragmented TDD spectrum as a mobile broadband solution that can serve the communication needs and demands of the marketplace.
 
Additionally, the report highlights that asmobile broadband is becoming ubiquitous throughout the Americas and the Internet generation is growing more accustomed to having broadband access everywhere, technology usage is exploding and, thus, is putting a tremendous strain on already well-utilized networks and spectrum. 3GPP LTE for TDD Spectrum in the Americas focuses on the LTE ecosystem and how operators are working to meet this increasing demand for mobile broadband services.
 
“LTE TDD is often overlooked as a mobile broadband solution,” Pearson said. “Operators and regulators must consider all of their options in meeting mobile broadband demands.”
 
Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean, added, “Specifically, this is a critical time in the industry for regulators in the Latin American region to carefully plan TDD spectrum allocations ensuring that technologies do not cause undue interference while at the same time making certain that the spectrum is consistent with global TDD allocations to take advantage of the economies of scale.”
 
The LTE ecosystem supports both FDD and TDD operation, offering operators flexibility to match their existing networks, spectrum and business objectives for mobile broadband and multimedia services. Fifteen paired (for FDD operation) and eight unpaired (for TDD operation) spectrum bands have already been identified by the 3GPP for LTE. This means an operator can introduce LTE in new spectrum bands.
 
The white paper, 3GPP LTE for TDD Spectrum in the Americas, was written collaboratively by members of 3G Americas and is available for free download on the 3G Americas website at www.3gamericas.org.  
 
About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology
3G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment of the GSM family of technologies including LTE throughout the Americas. 3G Americas has contributed to the successful commercial rollout of GSM across the Americas and its place as the number one technology in the region, as well as the global adoption of EDGE. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas, Texas. More information is available at www.3gamericas.org.
 
3G Americas' Board of Governors members include Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, Andrew Solutions, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Gemalto, Huawei, HP, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Openwave, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.