Its been almost one and half years ,since BWA (LTE /4G )licenses have been awarded by DOT (govt.).
We are not seeing really much action from operators to start operations except some pilot projects launched and getting tested by some operators.
Before going into what we will get from LTE /4G ! ....lets first understand in brief what it is really ?
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is access technology after release 8 of 3GPP like GSM or CDMA but its name given to the migration phase from 3G to 4G in Wireless Telecommunication evolution.
3G as defined by ITU -T /3GPP is an any cellular technology which will give you speed upto 2 Mbps wireless download speed and 365 Kbps upload speed. Which includes UMTS, EVDO/DV, etc.
On same lines, 4G is defined by ITU -T /3GPP is an any cellular technology which will give you speed
up to 1000 Mbps wireless download speed.
So , as evolution from 2 Mbps to 1000 Mbps had been taking place in last decade the period in between is called an LTE phase (After release 7 of 3GPP ).
Till , 3G there were two separate bodies which were developing standards for cellular communication i,.e 3GPP for GSM and 3GPP2 for CDMA , they had their own versions of 2G,2.5G and 3G.
however with LTE this is expected to end and unanimous single standards to be accepted by cellular operators.
However , there is one more wireless network pedigree which has its say here that is Wifi (wireless IP communications) technology its has its own next generation technology which is Wi -max(all IP network which supports mobility).
Initially , there was stiff competition between LTE and Wi-max to capture market space.
Now ,coming back to India, here government has given the licenses of BWA saying its use is technology neutral. means it can be used by operator for any 4G technology i.e LTE /Wi-max.
But ,as expected many existing cellular operator will prefer natural evolution i.e from 3G to LTE.
and it can be seen Airtel already launched pilot project in some cities in India.
however interesting thing is RIL who is only pan India 4G license holder who will be starting greenfield operations has chosen TD - LTE is the access technology.
However , both of them are struggling to get vendors and network infrastructure right , as costs are very high, and technology itself is new.
RIL has already delayed twice launch date for services.
However ,its interesting to see that, Indian market where 3G itself has not reached widely and not matured enough(data speeds are not up to the expectation in wider areas except major cities).
Ecosystem for the same (3G) has been getting in place. HOW THE INDIAN CUSTOMER will react to 4Gs(Pandora box)