Clearwire announced plans to conduct LTE technical trials this year as it considers its WiMAX strategy going forward. Specifically, Clearwire will conduct trials with Huawei Technologies and with Samsung Electronics to test multiple coexistence scenarios between LTE and WiMAX radio technologies. The company restated its commitment to use WiMAX technology for its current 4G build plan, but said the significant number of LTE devices coming to market leads it to consider how it can potentially add LTE to its network to coexist with WiMAX.
During the trials, Clearwire will collaborate with 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 for Clearwire’s technical trials are expected to be named at a later date.
In addition, due to the global dominance of the 2.5 GHz – 2.6 GHz spectrum band, a number of large wireless operators are expected to participate with Clearwire on these tests. Additional details about those companies are also expected to be disclosed at a later date. The tests will be conducted in the fall and throughout early 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Clearwire outlined the following test scenarios:
FDD LTE: Clearwire intends to conduct FDD LTE (Frequency Division Duplex) tests using 40 MHz of spectrum, paired in 20 MHz contiguous channels, of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. Clearwire expects to confirm the capability to produce real-world download speeds that range from 20-70 Mbps. 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.
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TDD LTE: Clearwire will concurrently test TDD LTE (Time Division Duplex), in a 20 MHz configuration, which is twice the channel size currently used in its 4G WiMAX deployments.
WiMAX and LTE: Clearwire will also 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.
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