Interoperability

U.S. Cellular and its spectrum auction bidding partner King Street Wireless are introducing LTE in more than 30 markets next week and intend expand LTE coverage to more than half of U.S. Cellular's customers by the start of the end-of-year holiday season.

Alcatel-Lucent announced it has become the first vendor whose LTE system for public safety has successfully completed third-party interoperability testing for both its radio access network (RAN) and core network components. The tested network solution operates in public-safety 700 MHz band 14 spectrum, covering both public-safety broadband and D-block spectrum.

Rural operator Nex-Tech Wireless is pushing the FCC to extend buildout deadlines for small 700 MHz licensees and mandate 700 MHz device interoperability, contending a lack of equipment is blocking Nex-Tech from launching its planned LTE networks in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

The WhiteSpace Alliance will hold an inter-operability event of its Wi-Far specification, which is derived from the IEEE 802.22 standard, sometime in the first quarter of 2013.

AT&T responded to the newly renamed Competitive Carriers Association's push for 700 MHz interoperability by suggesting, among other things, that CCA members should be seeking seamless coverage across the LTE deployments of Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and A-Block carriers instead of demanding interoperability with AT&T's.

700 MHz licensee Vulcan Wireless, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is pushing the FCC to order interoperability across all paired spectrum blocks in the Lower 700 MHz band, contending that will stimulate interested parties to find a technical solution via the industry-driven standards body process.