Clearwire to Conduct LTE Trials

Clearwire, champion of WiMAX, announced yesterday that it plans to conduct trials of rival 4G technology LTE, including multiple coexistence scenarios between LTE and WiMAX radio technologies. Chief Executive Bill Morrow said in an interview that he will decide by year’s end on the direction it will take with its national network.

The trials will take place in Phoenix in the fall of this year and early next year, the company said in a news release. Clearwire plans to utilize equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei, and the base station platform from Samsung that it currently uses for its mobile WiMAX deployments. The trials will utilize Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz – 2.6 GHz spectrum band.

Clearwire is preparing for three test scenarios:

• FDD LTE: Clearwire intends to conduct frequency division duplex (FDD) LTE tests using 40 MHz of spectrum, paired in 20 MHz contiguous channels, of its 2.5 GHz spectrum.
• TDD LTE: Clearwire will concurrently test time division duplex (TDD) LTE, in a 20 MHz configuration, which is twice the channel size currently used in its 4G WiMAX deployments.
• WiMAX and LTE: Clearwire also will test WiMAX co-existence with both FDD LTE and TDD LTE to confirm the flexibility of its network and spectrum strength to simultaneously support a wide-range of devices across its all-IP network.

Clearwire expects to confirm the capability to produce real-world download speeds that range from 20 Mbps -70 Mbps. In a thinly veiled dig at Verizon’s LTE network plans, the carrier said, “This is expected to be significantly faster than the 5-12 Mbps speeds currently envisioned by other LTE deployments in the U.S., which will rely on smaller pairs of 10 Mhz channels or less.”

In regards to devices, Clearwire plans to work with dual-mode 4G chip-maker Beceem and other partners to “determine the best methods for enabling end-user devices to take advantage of a potential multi-mode WiMAX/LTE network.”

Other participating vendors — and wireless operators — are expected to be announced at a later date.

In the past Clearwire  stated that it would be open to (eventually) migrating from WiMAX to LTE, so the trials are not completely out of left field. However, Clearwire is the poster child for WiMAX technology in the U.S. If Clearwire jumps ship, could this spell doom and gloom for the WiMAX marketplace?

For more details on the trials, see Clearwire’s release.

Related posts:

1. Cox Trials Voice and Video over LTE
2. Clearwire and Sprint to Launch WiMAX Service in Big Cities
3. Verizon Begins ‘Friendly’ LTE Field Trials
4. Clearwire Expands WiMAX Coverage, Speed
5. Report: Investors to Pump $1.5B into Clearwire