Liberty Global and CableLabs Join MulteFire Alliance
September 21 2016 - 09:00AM
Business Wire
Next-generation wireless technology gets
major boost as two leading players in cable join forces with
Wireless Consortium
Today, Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and
broadband company, and CableLabs, the innovation-focused R&D
lab for the global cable industry, announced that they have joined
the MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international
member-driven consortium dedicated to developing next-generation
wireless technology. Through collaboration with the Alliance,
Liberty Global and CableLabs can improve the wireless experience
and make the technology more widely available to consumers.
“Wireless connectivity has become critically important for
consumers,” said Balan Nair, CTO of Liberty Global. “By joining the
MulteFire Alliance, we are driving the future of wireless for our
customers.”
The main focus of the MulteFire Alliance is to ensure that
next-generation LTE mobile standards are compatible with shared and
unlicensed spectrum. This compatibility ensures that the next
generation technology is more widely available and that it can
coexist alongside Wi-Fi and other technologies. What also makes
this technology unique is that operators without access to the
licensed spectrum still will be able to use it, breaking down
barriers to entry and opening the door to greater innovation.
“This step will arm the cable industry with a new wireless
technology that builds on our success in providing Wi-Fi and mobile
services and complements the industry’s fixed broadband technology
leadership,” said Ralph Brown, CTO of CableLabs.
Currently, the MulteFire Alliance is working to adapt 3GPP-based
mobile wireless standards for shared and unlicensed spectrum so
that the technology is broadly available and fairly coexists with
Wi-Fi and other technologies. MulteFire is based on 3GPP Release 13
License Assisted Access LTE (LAA) and Release 14 enhanced LAA
(eLAA), which uses Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) etiquette to share
spectrum in a manner similar to Wi-Fi.
Unlike LAA, however, which is anchored to licensed spectrum and
must be used in conjunction with a mobile network, MulteFire will
operate entirely in unlicensed or shared spectrum, so that
operators without licensed mobile spectrum can utilize it. This
“standalone” functionality has been proposed in the 3GPP standards
body for both LTE and 5G. By building this capability in the
Alliance, its member companies will enable its adoption in global
standards and the corresponding broad benefit of wireless
innovation.
“We appreciate that the Alliance is committed to transparency
and collaboration, given the importance of unlicensed spectrum to
broadband access,” said Rob Alderfer, vice president of technology
policy at CableLabs. “As we move toward ever greater sharing of
scarce spectrum resources, reliable coexistence across technologies
is essential as we continue to innovate. It’s what we believe is
the most critical aspect of the Alliance, and one that will be
important as the industry moves toward 5G standards.”
“Operators in the cable industry are ideal partners in our
effort to develop new wireless technology and we are pleased to
have CableLabs and Liberty Global join us,” said Mazen
Chmaytelli, MulteFire Alliance president. “The Alliance is open for
broad, global participation, and since one of our goals is to drive
our work into global standards, we are establishing liaisons with
3GPP, CBRS Alliance and IEEE to keep them apprised of our
progress.”
Other members of the Alliance include leading technology
suppliers such as Qualcomm, Intel, Nokia and Ericsson. A full list
of members can be found here.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and
broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across
Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to
make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment
to innovation enables us to develop market-leading products
delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29
million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television,
broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve 11 million
mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million
access points.
Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the
Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our
European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK,
OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America
and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European
countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo,
Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer
brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the
LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region
in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit
www.libertyglobal.com.
About CableLabs
CableLabs is a non-profit Innovation and R&D Lab founded in
1988 by members of the cable television industry. With a strong
focus on innovation, CableLabs develops technologies and
specifications for the secure delivery of high speed data, video,
voice and next generation services. It also provides testing,
certification facilities and technical leadership for the
industry.
CableLabs mission is to enable cable operators to be the
providers of choice to their customers. Cable operators from around
the world are members. For more information, please visit
www.CableLabs.com.
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Liberty GlobalMatt Beake, + 00 44 208 483 6300orfor
CableLabsAurora Sassone,
+1-415-619-1555aurora.sassone@edelman.com
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