This white paper is a primer on the details of 3GPP Release 12 (Rel-12) finalized standards and new work on Release 13 (Rel-13) and beyond.
This white paper will help in understanding the future of wireless broadband and how new requirements and technological goals will be achieved.
In this paper, a comprehensive treatment of mobile broadband evolution is presented: global market trends and milestones for LTE and HSPA are documented; and 3GPP standardization progress on both Rel-12 and Rel-13 features are detailed.
While Rel-12 continued to build on LTE-Advanced and HSPA+, Rel-13 is in the unique position of being the Release prior to Rel-14 where it is expected that the first set of features addressing IMT-2020 requirements (towards 5G) will be introduced.
Rel-13 was initiated with some early approval of higher priority items in June 2014 and is expected to be finalized by early 2016. Features and enhancements are detailed according to LTE-Advanced, HSPA+, and last but not least, Network Services Related enhancements.
This white paper originally posted on 4G Americas website