Bharti

GTI 2.0 Launched, Continue TD-LTE Development and Promote 5G Industrialization and Innovation

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 25, 2016 -- With the support and guidance of 5 Chairman/CEO from top operators, Sunil Bharti Mittal (Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises), Mr. Shang Bing (Chairman of China Mobile), Mr. Masayoshi Son (Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp), Mr. Chang-Gyu Hwang (Chairman and CEO of KT) and Mr. Vittorio Colao (CEO of Vodafone Group Plc), GTI 2.0 was officially launched during the GTI summit 2016 held at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

With a new 5-year strategic plan and mission, GTI 2.0 aims to continue to promote the global development of TD-LTE (delivering LTE by creating a time delay between the uplink and downlink signals), encouraging convergence with FDD (frequency division duplex, which requires two channels), and to foster a cross-industry innovative and a synergistic 5G ecosystem.

Founded in 2011, GTI has been dedicated to constructing a robust ecosystem of TD-LTE, speeding up the commercialization of TD-LTE and promoting the convergence of LTE TDD and FDD. Today, GTI has become an influential cooperation platform with 122 operator members and 103 industrial partners, and has completed the GTI 1.0 mission by building an end-to-end TD-LTE ecosystem and achieving global commercialization of TD-LTE and converged LTE TDD/FDD.

By the end of Dec. 2015, there were 76 TD-LTE commercial networks in 43 countries, and 91 TD-LTE networks in progress, with a total of 1.4 million TD-LTE base stations serving 470 million subscribers globally.

With the success in making TD-LTE a global standard and the convergence of TDD/FDD, GTI 2.0 will continue to help the whole industry benefit from the evolution of TD-LTE, TDD/FDD converged networks and global smartphones, and promote a unified 5G standard and mature end-to-end ecosystem, as well as explore cross-industry markets and opportunities. GTI will continue its good cooperation with industry partners and international organisations.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said, "Bharti Airtel is delighted to be a part of GTI 2.0. We have led the roll-out of TD-LTE in India and are confident that it will emerge as the preferred standard for evolving mobile technologies. We look forward to collaborating with the consortium partners towards developing technology ecosystem for the future and help build a digitally inclusive world."

Shang Bing, Chairman of China Mobile said, "China Mobile will fully support GTI 2.0 objectives. We will work closely with GTI partners to further promote TD-LTE evolution, global deployment and propel 5G development and joint innovation to embrace the new era of 'Everything Connected'."

Masayoshi Son, Chairman of Softbank Group said "Since 2011, GTI has made great achievements through its 5 years' effort. TD-LTE has become a global standard that so huge number of people are using. Today, I also expect GTI 2.0 continues to promote the evolution of technology to meet the requirements of 1 million times growth of mobile data traffic in next 30 years. In specific, I believe Band 41 HP UE will benefit both operator and customer, which I really want GTI 2.0 to make it happen as soon as possible."

Chang-Gyu Hwang, Chief Executive Officer of KT, said "KT anticipate crucial role of GTI 2.0 in various areas, especially early expansion of 5G and related vertical industry. As member of GTI 2.0, KT will cooperate with other GTI 2.0 members on various business areas and make meaningful contribution in GTI 2.0."

Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group, said: "It is important for the industry to continue developing 4G and to work together to develop the standards for 5G technology ahead of its expected commercial introduction from 2020 onwards. GTI 2.0 will provide Vodafone with a useful forum to work closely with a number of major operators towards that goal.