LTE technology: stakeholder implications and wireless network upgrade considerations

LTE (Long-Term Evolution)

Long-Term Evolution (LTE)

A Summary of LTE

Implications for Stakeholders

Application of Theories

Structured Cabling Issues

Technical Specifications

Operations Plan

Feasibility Study

Features of LTE

Past Technologies

The Best Choice?

Long-Term Evolution (LTE)

A Summary of LTE

Long-term evolution (LTE) is an emerging technology. It is a standard in wireless communication, and relates to the effective and efficient transfer of high-speed data for both data terminals and mobile phones (Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). Based on GSM/EDGE as well as UMTS/HSPA technologies, LTE increases both the speed and capacity of a network by utilizing modulation techniques that are new. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed the standard by which other companies must work if they are interested in getting involved with LTE (Agilent, 2009; Khan, 2009; Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). It was not until December of 2009 that LTE became publicly available. At that time, it was launched in Stockholm and Oslo by TeliaSonera (Dahlman, Ekstrom, & Furuskar, et al., 2006). Carriers who already use GSM or UMTS see LTE as the natural path they should take when upgrading, but even carriers who are still using the outdated CDMA for their mobile phones, such as Verizon Wireless, have stated that they will migrate to LTE. Because of that expected migration, LTE is believed to be a truly global standard for mobile phone technology.

Commonly, LTE is referred to as a type of 4G service. However, the current release version of LTE does not actually satisfy all 4G requirements (Dahlman, Parkvall, & Skold, 2011). In future releases, LTE is expected to meet all of those requirements and truly be considered 4G. Whether this actually takes place, and how soon, remains to be seen. The technology is alleged to be the next best thing, and to set the "gold standard" for any wireless communications carrier. However, there are still skeptics who are not convinced LTE is the wave of the future or the way to address problems with current wireless network communications. Additionally, there are implications for stakeholders of the companies that switch to LTE as well as concerns with integration of the new technology into what is currently available.

Implications for Stakeholders

When it comes to the stakeholders, there are several groups affected by the use of LTE. A corporation that wants to move to using LTE would need to consider a cost/benefit analysis, because LTE is an upgrade from what most companies are currently using. As such, there are benefits that would be received from upgrading, but there are also costs associated with any kind of upgrade of technology. For example, any company that is not using LTE currently would have to assess how much they would gain from making the adjustment. LTE costs more to implement in the short-term, but since it is expected to become the standard for wireless technology, it will also be beneficial for companies in that it will not quickly become obsolete like other technologies (Agilent, 2009; Dahlman, Parkvall, & Skold, 2011). When a company is using a particular kind of technology, and that technology becomes obsolete, it starts to cost the company money. Fewer people work on the technology, it becomes harder to get hardware and software for replacement or repair, and the technology simply does not work as well as newer options which are better quality, better funded, and on which companies are focusing.

Integration is a serious consideration for any company that wishes to use LTE, however, because large companies have many, many people using wireless technology (Dahlman, Parkvall, Skold, & Beming, 2008). If a corporation is paying for cellular phones for 50 employees, for example, that company will have a large outlay of cash to consider if it decides to upgrade its phones to a newer technology. Not all older phones will work with newer wireless technology, so the phones generally have to be replaced. That happened with 3G technology, and it is happening again with 4G and LTE. That is not to say that companies should not upgrade to technology that will be better and more easily used in the future, but only that companies have to consider all factors. Provided the company has the money to upgrade, LTE technology will help them with operational concerns such as increased productivity, better efficiency, and other long-term benefits (Dahlman, Ekstrom, & Furuskar, et al., 2006; Ekstrom, Furuskar, & Karlsson, et al., 2006). That benefit is true for management, nontechnical as well as technical staff, and the clients and customers of the company.

Structured Cabling Issues

Having networks that will handle LTE means new cabling infrastructure for some areas (Khan, 2009; Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). The current infrastructure is not capable of supporting everything that LTE will need in some of the more rural parts of the country. Even though the people who use the service think of it as wireless, there are still cables needed to carry the signal to various places, where it is then sent from the towers in order to allow for access on all the phones that are running on the network. Companies that provide wireless services have to maintain all the cabling, towers, and other needed equipment. If the current structured cabling will not provide what is needed for LTE to work effectively, that cabling will have to be replaced (Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). Naturally, that is not an inexpensive proposition, and many wireless companies will not want to spend the money required to provide LTE to their customers. However, if they do not provide LTE service and other companies do, they risk losing customers.

Technical Specifications

Peak downlink rates of 300 Mbit/s are provided by LTE, along with uplink rates of 75 Mbit/s (Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). That provides round trip times that are lower than 10 ms (Khan, 2009). Fast moving mobiles and broadcast streams, as well as multi-cast streams, can all be supported by LTE. Scalable carrier bandwidths are also offered, and these range from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz (Johnson, 2010). Additionally, time division and frequency division duplexing are both supported, while the actual architecture is simplified. Having a simpler architecture allows for operating costs that are lower than would otherwise be expected. In that way, LTE is actually very cost effective, once the initial outlay to purchase equipment has been overcome. New technology is generally always costly in the beginning, and over time the upfront costs are recouped by operating costs that are lower, balancing things out.

Operations Plan

An operations plan for getting LTE into a company would have to include the changeover from the current technology as the most difficult and consuming issue (Ekstrom, Furuskar, & Karlsson, et al., 2006; Ergen, 2009). This would take both time and money, and would have to be the first thing done. Any company wanting to make the switch would need to ensure that LTE was available in their area, find out the cost of the equipment (phones) needed, and determine which carrier to use. There are several to choose from, and the concern over which carrier would be best for a company or in a particular area is a serious one that should always be considered. An operations plan for LTE should not stop at the switch over to the new technology, however. It also must consider any maintenance that will have to be done in the form of further upgrades to the LTE technology later, with the upcoming 2013 rollout of LTE Advanced. Technology is always advancing, but that means it is always changing and rendering other technology obsolete.

Feasibility Study

In order for any company to determine whether LTE is feasible or whether it is something that should be avoided and/or is not necessary, it would be necessary to conduct a feasibility study. That study should include all the pros and cons of LTE, so as to determine the value of switching over to the new technology vs. waiting until it has been out for some time or until other, newer technology appears. For example, a feasibility study about LTE might include:

The cost of the technology in the initial, short-term, upgrade.

The cost and long-term implications of maintenance and further upgrades.

The need for what LTE offers as opposed to what is currently being received and used.

The need to keep up with competitors who may be using LTE.

The need to provide clients and customers with appropriate service.

The quality and age of the technology currently being used.

The number of individuals who would need training on the new technology.

The number of individuals who would need the new technology.

Not everything about new technology can be determined in black and white, because there are always variables to consider. Still, there are cost issues that cannot be ignored and that have to be factored into any business decision. If there is too much at stake from a cost standpoint, there is no reason to believe that switching to LTE will simply correct that problem, or that the cost outlay will somehow be justified by improvements to customer relationships. The interaction a company has with its customers is very important, but there is more to interaction than the speed of it. Companies who are considering LTE must understand the significance of the upgrade as a component of their bottom line.

Features of LTE

The features that LTE offers are very important when considering whether it is a good emerging technology. If the features are not what is needed by the majority of targeted consumers, or those features are not acceptable in the sense that they do not provide something new and different from what is already offered, there is little point in rolling out something with those features. LTE has to be better, faster, stronger, and more interesting before companies and individuals will be interested in switching to it, especially because they have to pay for new phones that can handle that technology and they cannot just keep using their old phones indefinitely. For many people this is perfectly fine, because they switch phones often and like to have the latest and greatest where technology is concerned. For others, however, a new phone is not needed and the same phone they have been using and are comfortable with is the phone that they prefer.

That being said, the features of LTE include faster upload and download rates, which are highly significant for people who use their phone to do all types of things on the Internet (Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). Gone are the days when people only used their cellular phones to make phone calls. Taking pictures and texting appeared, and then phones came out that could access the Internet. The race has been on since then to make these phones faster and more interactive, which is where LTE comes into the picture. The faster the phone, the more it can do - and phones can only be fast if the technology powering them and the signal off which they are operating is fast. Without a good signal, there is little use to a wireless phone. A simplified architecture is also a feature of LTE, as is support for many different communication systems and frequency bands (Ergen, 2009; Furht & Ahson, 2009). In the past, technology was not yet advanced enough to provide that high level of support, but it will make a difference to many people.

Past Technologies

Before LTE came out, there were many other kinds of technology used to power wireless phones. For example, early phones were not even digital. They were analog, and they did not do anything other than make calls - often not very well or in too many areas. When digital phones came out, they were very significant and could do so much more than the analog phones were capable of doing. Everyone wanted one, because the phones were better at making and receiving calls, and they worked in more areas. Along the way, they picked up the ability to take pictures, send and receive text messages, and access the Internet. CDMA came along, and changed the game again. It made cell phones faster and allowed them to work better in areas where they were originally not highly functional. There are still parts of the country, most notably across areas of Texas and other rural parts of other states, where wireless service is nearly nonexistent, or spotty at best.

However, most areas of the country have good wireless service now, and are being upgraded to 4G so that they will be able to handle the newest and best phones well into the future. GSM is still the technology of choice for most companies and most areas, because these phones can be used in different countries (Sesia, Toufik, & Baker, 2011). That makes them good choices for people who travel a great deal, and for people who must go out of the country frequently on business. Not needing to change phones just to change countries made everything more convenient. However, each time technology changed the phones that would accept that kind of technology also changed. Outdated technology is a bad choice for business, because it indicates to clients and customers that the company is not interested in keeping up with the times or cannot afford to. Neither is a good option.

LTE: The Best Choice?

Many companies are asking whether LTE is the best choice. Is it necessary? Is it worth the cost and the time and effort to switch everything over? The LTE Advanced will come out in 2013, so there may be companies that will elect to wait to see if that is much different. What competitors do may also affect the choices that some companies make when it comes to switching to LTE. Keeping up with competitors is much more important in some companies than it is in others, so that is worth considering, as well. If a company works in a technological field, or if the company uses technology almost to excess in order to keep customers happy and keep the business operating at a profit, then upgrading may be the best choice for that particular company. However, if a company does not use technology that heavy and is not having any problems at all with its current level of technology, it may be better for that company to wait to upgrade, since the cost can be prohibitive and not really make sense for companies that do not use that much technology.

The idea of "keeping up with the Joneses" can take over an individual or a company relatively easily. That often happens when new technology like LTE is available, because it does things faster and that is generally a good thing. The American public has been led to believe that faster is better, and they want to make sure that they are able to do things quickly and that they will always be connected. For the most part, they can get that with LTE. However, that still does not effectively answer the question of whether LTE is good or bad. In reality, there is no way to completely answer that question, because what is "good" for one company may not be the right thing for another company. With that being the case, whether LTE is a good idea and whether it is "worth it" to the company is a question that can only be answered on a company-by-company basis.

Conclusion

LTE is a new technology that is designed to be faster and to support more users and more additions to wireless networks. It is advertised as being 4G, but does not actually meet the requirements. Another upgrade will correct that issue, and users will have true, 4G capabilities and speed from their LTE technology. The question, though, is whether upgrading is the right choice, and why companies would choose to upgrade. There are many reasons why upgrading can be a good thing for a business, especially if that business uses technology frequently and heavily. Keeping up with competitors is also very important, because companies that do not keep up with their competitors can really struggle and begin to fall behind. Still, the cost to upgrade can be significant for companies that have many employees for which technology is provided, so that is worth careful consideration. When companies go overboard financially to upgrade technology, they do not always make that money back at a rate with which they are comfortable, which can lead to financial difficulties.

Despite the concerns with LTE and whether it is the right choice for a particular business, there is no denying that LTE is going to render older technologies obsolete. By doing that, it will eventually become necessary for businesses to switch. Most of them will likely do that when they need to upgrade their phones and other wireless technology, but they may choose to wait until that becomes necessary, as opposed to only when something new comes out and they would like to have whatever it happens to be. Overall, any business that upgrades to LTE can expect things to be faster and smoother than they already are, which will allow for rapid uploading and downloading of files. That can potentially make or break the technology area of some businesses, especially if there is a business that uses technology all the time and relies on it in order to keep customers happy with what is being offered.