Verizon The Only Ones to Need CDMA/LTE Interworking?

Just went through the specs on EPS trusted non-3GPP networks to find some details on CDMA to LTE interworking when I suddenly wondered if there is anyone at the moment besides Verizon who will need this kind of interworking!? While lots of network operators require GSM/UMTS/LTE interworking (handover, cell reselection, voice handovers, etc) there seem to be only few CDMA operators who might require the functionality. Any others come to your mind besides Verizon?

Comments

[przemobe]

Other one is KDDI Japan.

[sameer]

Reliance India. It is #2 operator in India, going by subscriber strength. It has very ambitious plans for 3G deployment.

[Ed]

beyond what is already mentioned, there is Sprint, China Telecom (and one in Korea) and some other smaller players (Cox, Leap, ...) the 450MHz operators in East Europe, ..

I presume the operators that have gone with 3G after CDMA will ask that the LTE devices support UMTS (would seem obvious) - operators like Bell, Telus, ...

[Ed]

Ooops, *assuming* the rumours are true that Sprint may one day go LTE (same with COX, et al)

submitted too fast

[Rupert]

MetroPCS, according to this article http://bit.ly/ds81Dl

[Michael Salmon]

There are several CDMA operators in Eastern European countries that could require CDMA - LTE interworking; Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia etc ... using 450Mhz, 800Mhz and 850Mhz frequency bands.

Of course, this presumes that those operators will want or even need to take up LTE.

[Gabriel Brown]

From what I hear, VZW is the main (only?) player interested in the eHRPD route. No one else seems much bothered at the moment.

Also the various CDMA-to-LTE interworking functions & interfaces for optimized handover in 3GPP may likely not be developed by vendors (and therefore used by operators). I suspect VZW will look for some-kind of more practical workaround.

This info is a little old, but still... if anyone knows different, drop me a line!

[Robert Kenyon]

In the US MetroPCS is another CDMA operator that has decided to go LTE FDD. Outside of the US KDDI will deploy LTE FDD too and they want seamless mobility between CDMA and LTE.

On the network side the vendors will do what the operators and Qualcomm demand. These latter will provide the chipset to the terminals and for the CDMA BTS.

Another interesting point is that Clearwire will eventually go LTE TDD but if it is a simple upgrade of their WiMAX netwok, it is unclear if they intend to deploy specific features to get smooth mobility with Sprint CDMA network.