The 3.5GHz Interest Group, whose objective is to drive adoption for LTE TDD in bands 42 and 43, has announced new developments in the device ecosystem for this increasingly mainstream LTE TDD band at its sixth roundtable at the 2013 Mobile World Congress. The special interest group, which is affiliated with the TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) displayed nearly 20 devices to attendees including 100 top executives from companies, including leading operators, regulators, mainstream chipset manufacturers and industry partners.

3.5GHz LTE TDD terminals on display included indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, personal WiFi Hotspots and USB Modems including new models from Huawei. Global network deployment plans were also discussed. Operators in Europe, Latin American and the Middle East are starting roll outs of 3.5GHz LTE TDD including Bahrain operator Mena Telecom.

The attendees, including SoftBank, Bollore, DIRECTV, Linkem, KDDI, Poland Sprint, 2K Telecom, AzQtel, Industry Canada, GSMA, GSA, TAG, WiMAX Forum, TDIA, Qualcomm, HiSilicon, Sequans, Fujitsu Semiconductors, Altair, MitraStar, Gemtek , GCF and others, came together to discuss the continued development of network infrastructure, the commercial availability of both chips and devices, and the important role LTE TDD bands 42 and 43 will play to enable operators to satisfy significant increases in data demand as large bandwidths become available.

As a staunch supporter of the Interest Group, 3.5GHz equipment vendor Huawei highlighted its upcoming roadmap and latest 3.5GHz solutions showing that a true commercial end-to-end solution already exists for LTE TDD in bands 42 and 43. The meeting was hosted by the Interest Group Chairman Philip Marnick, CTO of UK Broadband, the first operator to globally launch a 3.5GHz LTE TDD network in London in 2012.

Speaking after the event, Mr. Marnick said: “Since our first group meeting at Mobile World Congress last year, we have seen great progress in the development of the 3.5/3.6GHz ecosystem, including new network equipment, devices and additional operators around the world planning deployments. 2013 will be an exciting year with additional commercial launches and more consumers benefitting from mobile and fixed wireless services using 3.5/3.6GHz LTE TDD technologies.”

The 3.5GHz Interest Group was formally established in June 2012 in Hangzhou, China. Since its establishment the membership has rapidly expanded with many operators now seeking to use the bands to provide mobile and fixed wireless LTE TDD services to their customers.