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Thursday, June 17, 2010
LTE, WiBro to be Global 4G Standards
The news is out that LTE Evolution and WiBro Evolution (known as WiMax Evolution outside of Korea) have been selected as the two global standards for fourth generation mobile technology. As reported in The Korea Herald, the decision was made at an ITU meeting in Vietnam June 9-16. The ITU will complete developing the specific standardization framework for the two technologies by March 2011 and grant final approval in February 2012. “With Korea playing a key role in the international standardization effort, the nation will be able to lead the way in designing core technologies for the next generation,” said Kim Jeong-sam, director of the radio spectrum policy division at the Korea Communications Commission. The research and development on WiBro Evolution has been led by Samsung Electronics and Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).
Really? Two different protocols providing identical, competing services for a single purpose (mobile data service)? I thought that was the entire point of an international standards body - to choose a SINGLE international standard. Why can't they do that simple task?
ReplyDeleteBut no, probably too much money in moving forward with both. Just like with HD optical discs, we'll have to wait to see which one comes out on top, and which one fizzles out.
I find it interesting that the current implementations of WiMax and LTE-A don't actually meet the requirements to be a 4G protocol. They both project being able to meet the requirements, but have not yet done it.