LG-Nortel has successfully conducted a 3GPP-compliant data handover between an LTE network and CDMA network, enabling the company to offer support to CDMA operators looking to switch to the 4G standard.
The test also serves as a reminder that the joint venture remains active even as parent Nortel Networks liquidates.
LG said the test showed that activities such as video downloading and web surfing could be maintained as a subscriber switches between LTE and CDMA coverage areas.
The demonstration was conducted over 700 MHz spectrum – the same spectrum Verizon Wireless is using for LTE in the US –in a live-air environment at Nortel's Research and Development Center in Ottawa, Canada.
“The joint test with Canada's Nortel explains standards-compliant CDMA-LTE inter-working,” an LG spokesman told the Korea Times.
“This also enables idle-mode handover between CDMA and LTE and active-mode handover from LTE to CDMA, leveraging device-assisted, network-controlled functionality.”
US operator Verizon Wireless is now out its initial LTE efforts in Boston and Seattle. The carrier recently reported a successful data call using gadgets from vendors including LG. However, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are the carrier's primary network suppliers.
Thus, LG-Nortel's demonstration may be an effort to entice other CDMA carriers looking to an LTE future. Another US carrier, MetroPCS, has said it intends to upgrade its CDMA network to the 4G technology.
The test could also stand as an attempt to protect LG-Nortel's somewhat precarious position; in May, Nortel confirmed that it was shopping for a buyer for its majority stake in the company.
Korea Times
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