LTE camp making false claims: WiMax Forum

The WiMax Forum has completely rejected claims of the LTE camp regarding its readiness to support the BWA network rollout plans of Indian operators. The WiMax forum further said that the LTE camp’s claims of LTE being interoperable with TDD, FDD LTE, 2G and 3G networks are false.
P Balaji, vice president, Ericsson India had earlier said to Telecom Yatra, “The equipment (for LTE) will be available for commercial use in the first quarter of 2011. Whether operators want to launch services then or later is their decision. However, if they want they can start the commercial roll out within two to three months of acquiring supplies. You can say that by July 2011, the commercial rollout can begin if operators want.”
Balaji had added, "The technology provides backward compatibility with 2G and 3G networks and can work even outside the LTE coverage area."
C S Rao, chairman, WiMax Forum, said to Telecom Yatra, "TDD LTE BTS equipment cannot support FDD LTE without additional radio equipment; additional suitable channel modem modules; and additional system and protocol software required to be deployed at BTS sites. BWA subscriber service of FDD and TDD can never ever be seamlessly interoperable on the same device in a given BTS area.”
He also said that "Ericsson is making a false claim. In my strong view if they say that Ericsson can support Indian BWA and thus the Indian society with equipments and devices of that scale of demand (50,000 BTS and 15 million devices by the first quarter of 2011), at competitive prices equaling 4G mobile WiMax; and the volume of manufacturing as that of 4G mobile WiMax, it is great. Indian telcos who are mature operators exactly know the status of TD LTE technology and such aggressive claims would not influence any of the mature telcos.”