Vendors Fight for LTE TDD Deals

6:40 AM -- Competition is intensifying to win {buzzbin 200177|Long Term Evolution Time Division Duplex (LTE TDD)} orders from India's only national broadband wireless access (BWA) license-holder, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson AB and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. believed to be the main contenders, according to The Business Standard.

Reliance Industries, as a result of its acquisition of Infotel following last June's spectrum auction, is the only company with licenses for all of India's 22 "circles" (service areas). While some debate continues as to whether it might deploy WiMax infrastructure initially, and migrate to LTE TDD, the company recently announced the result of LTE TDD tests conducted with Ericsson, and is believed to be planning a network based on LTE technology from day one. (See , , and .)

But Ericsson isn't necessarily in the driving seat from the supply side. AlcaLu has been focusing on the LTE TDD market in India, having lost out in the initial 3G contract awards to its main rivals, and is looking to salvage market share and pride. (See .)

According to one industry source, Reliance is likely to source its LTE TDD equipment from a range of vendors, but the value of any initial orders is unclear as the operator might be planning to launch services only in a few cities in 2011.

Gagandeep Kaur, India Editor, Light Reading