by Tom Leddo
I attended the CommNexus presentation called The Road to Long Term Evolution (LTE): The Next Generation of Wireless Technology featuring Tami Erwin, President – West Area for Verizon Wireless. At the event, I learned a couple of things.
LTE will revolutionize the industry. Ms Erwin convinced me that LTE will be much more dynamic than anything we are currently experiencing. While she openly acknowledged that the iPhone was a “game changer,” she also pointed out that LTE will go further – much further. This was not a dis on the iPhone, but rather an attempt to show the limitless options before us in a 4G world. A world where machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless will connect everyone and everything. Check-out this video by Alcatel-Lucent that she shared with us.
The impact of 4G has not yet been clearly defined. Verizon plans to allow their subscribers to define how LTE evolves rather than attempt to define it themselves. They do not want to limit the impact of LTE by attempting to define it or set an expectation. They are merely building a network that will facilitate it. I’d give that a “thumbs-up” on Facebook!
I anticipate that 4G will change how we communicate much more than analog-to-digital conversions, 2.5G and 3G. But what about the niche of Md7 – what about 4G’s impact on cell sites and cellular antenna leases? The demand for capacity with 4G will require an increase the number of cell sites, include smaller cell sites, such as microcells, picocells, and femtocells, and cell sites will have shorter rad centers. Until more sites are built, RF engineers will have to look for ways to off-load traffic to Wi-Fi as often as possible. 4G may also force cellular operators to evolve into a “dumb pipe.” It will also drive C-level executives to focus on OPEX over CAPEX. And all of these things will impact cell site rents.
