CSL poised to win LTE trial race

Hong Kong-based CSL looks set to claim the prize of Asia’s first commercial trial. CEO Tarek Robbiati said that the operator would begin an LTE trial “shortly” in Kowloon Bay.

 

Robbiati said the Telstra-owned operator was ready for LTE, thanks to its all-IP HSPA+ upgrade earlier this year, but would not say when it planned to launch service, “because we like to surprise our competitors.”

 

CSL will also open an LTE technology center in Kowloon Bay next week, Robbiati said.

 

SingTel announced a plan to conduct regional field trials of LTE technology across Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore slated to start in the first half of 2010.

 

The trials, the first in these territories, will be held in collaboration with local affiliates Optus, Globe Telecom and Telkomsel.

 

Six vendors – Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens and ZTE –have been invited to take part, although SingTel did not specify which suppliers would work in which markets.