Packet One to help steer TD-LTE development

Malaysia's broadband service provider Packet One Networks has been appointed to the steering committee of the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) to help spearhead the growth and development of the mobile broadband technology. 

In a statement issued on Thursday, Packet One said with the appointment, it will be joining other GTI founding members China Mobile, Clearwire from the U.S., India's Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, and Japan's Softbank in the committee.

Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GTI Steering Committee, said with Packet One's participation, GTI plans to further bring the leading operators to steer the TD-LTE ecosystem toward being a "major standard in mobile broadband technology" and drive early development of next-generation mobile broadband networks.

Michael Lai, CEO of Packet One, added the appointment is a "major milestone" for the company in leading the 4G TD-LTE movement, particularly in Southeast Asia.

"Since 2008, Packet One has been working tirelessly to shape the 4G broadband industry, first with WiMax...now in TD-LTE technology. We will not rest on our laurels as this is just the tip of the iceberg in man-to-man, man-to-machine, and ultimately, machine-to-machine communications," Lai said in the statement.

The CEO previously urged operators to tap the melting pot of available spectrum and technologies to better manage bandwidth constraints brought about by growing mobile Internet consumption. These technologies include 3G, HSPA (high-speed packet access, WiMax, LTE, and Wi-Fi, he noted.