A Begaluru-based techie guy bought a sleek iPhone 5 for more than Rs 40,000 recently to enjoy and experience the super-fast 4G LTE network on-the go. However, his excitement was substituted with bitterness, when he realized that his fancy, and also expensive, phone would not run on India's 4G network.



What's the reason?

iPhone 5 does not support the TDD used in India. In simple term it does not supports the 'time division duplex' version of LTE technology.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) powers 4G networks.

Apple's iPhone 5 in fact runs on the older and more globally trusted variant i.e. FDD or 'frequency duplex division,' which is currently operating in countries U.S. and Europe.

Far from being stray cases, they represent the first wave of data-hungry customers who signed up for 4G thrills on-the-go. But, instead they learnt the hard way that 'true bang for the LTE buck' stays a pipe dream in a country where 4G services arrived seven months.

Coming to the point, LTE is only nearly 4G. True 4G will only enter with LTE Advanced. It has high spectral efficiency and low latency. Offering lower costs for every megabyte transmitted. The carriers can also offer voice-over LTE, but the one of best advantages is in operational efficiency.

Small-cell LTE is in fact not possible, almost, to manage without self- organizing networks. 4G subscriber growth has been arrested, by a near non-existing ecosystem.

LTE has mind-boggling opportunities, but it faces substantial hurdles now, like absence of compatible 4G handset.