UK Broadband was the very first operator to deploy a commercial 3.5GHz LTE TDD network. CTO Phillip Marnick shares the company’s experiences with it and advocates 3.5GHz as a band that the industry should embrace as data gains priority.
He found 3.5GHz LTE TDD to work extremely well. “We’ve done WiMAX and all those other technologies before. We worked to make sure LTE worked on it (3.5GHz). We worked with Huawei. Their infrastructure delivered what it said it would deliver. The users are getting the services they want.” He is glad to see the ecosystem start to develop, “There’s more to be done, and we’re working and collaborating with other people around the world to make that happen. We believe it’s an area where operators can actually deploy today, get technology, get experience, and just make it part of their portfolio, either standalone or part of a technology solution they have with multiple spectrum bands.”
Marnick also urges regulators to consider 3.5GHz for mobile. “It’s a good way for regulators opening up a band that’s already there, already getting an ecosystem developed, having a common standard across the world. LTE TDD is the right solution for this band.
