CSL takes swipe at rivals

Tarek Robbiati, CEO of Hong Kong’s first and largest mobile network operator, CSL, used his time in the spotlight at today's GSMA Mobile Asia Congress to talk up the company’s offering over its many rivals, promising a smooth ride to next-generation LTE technology. Since launch of CSL’s Next G network in March - claimed to be the world’s first all-IP HSPA+ network, supporting theoretical peak speeds of up to 21Mb/s - the operator has been preparing its eventual move to LTE. “We already have the first LTE site live in Asia, just across from here in Kowloon Bay,” revealed Robbiati, referencing a pilot site established in September with the operator’s long-term equipment partner ZTE where speeds of 120 Mb/s were recorded whilst stationary, and 43 Mb/s on the move. Although the operator’s head man wouldn’t reveal specific timeframes for commercial launch, stating only that it would happen sometime in 2010-2011, he said that rollout would be a phased approach, “ramping up as devices emerge.”

Taking a potential swipe at rivals such as 3, PCCW, Peoples and SmarTone-Vodafone, Robbiati quoted that “quality is not cheap, and cheap is not good… some Hong Kong operators have forgotten that.” Following its purchase of 2.6GHz spectrum in January, Robbiati went on to claim the operator now has “more spectrum than any of our competitors, and in fact more spectrum than two of those competitors combined.” The existing all-IP HSPA+ network means that rollout of LTE will be fast with little requirement for incremental capex, he added. “LTE requires an all-IP network. Next G is an all-IP network. Secondly, LTE requires more spectrum. Thirdly, legacy networks must be capped and removed. We already have an all-IP network and more spectrum than anyone else… we will lead the [Hong Kong] deployment of LTE in 1.8GHz and 2.6GHz bands.”