“More than any other wireless technology, LTE has the capability to change the face of communications as we know it. That’s why our research and development teams have expended considerable effort in the last few years preparing for this point in LTE’s development, when the first carriers are preparing for technology trials later this year,” said David Kiesling, global product manager for RFS wireless infrastructure solutions.
“The message we are taking to our carrier customers - both old and new - at the GSMA World Congress is that we can help them in what is certain to be a revolution at the cell tower top. We can do this because our products offer an evolutionary path that keeps the real estate changes to an absolute minimum,” he added.
According to Kiesling, the key question that carriers are asking leading suppliers like RFS is, ‘Will the technology that we install at the top of the cell tower today need to be changed in the next 12 to 18 months?’ and ‘What is the lifespan of the LTE hardware and associated systems?’
The answer, he says, is that RFS can help reduce the headache that carrier operations and planning managers are certain to face in the next few years as the industry evolves to an LTE ecosystem. One of the major issues facing today’s carriers is how to support the introduction of LTE at the cell site with a minimum of extra real estate and yet ensure that support for legacy wireless technologies - as GSM is rapidly becoming - together with 3G services, is constantly available.
Kiesling added: “Then, of course, there is the requirement to future proof the antenna, diplexers and other base station systems, as end users change the role that LTE technology plays in their lives,” he explained.