First 4G LTE Network Launch in the Americas: Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons learned Ken Geisheimer CTO Organization November 16, 2010
Disclaimer Any statements not of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal and state securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as anticipates, projects, plans, believes, estimates, expects, and other similar expressions. Examples of forwardlooking statements include, but are not limited to, statements we make regarding the future opportunities for our business, the challenges and opportunities facing our business, our strategy, and the benefits of LTE to our business, availability of LTE handsets and pricing, the ability of our networks to handle traffic, and when we will launch LTE in our remaining markets. Statements made during this presentation that are forward-looking statements and projections are subject to various risks, assumptions and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the ability of our suppliers to deliver LTE products and services and developments by our vendors and suppliers, and risks and uncertainties described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, which is on file with the SEC, and may be obtained free of charge through the SEC s website at www.sec.gov from the Company s website at www.metropcs.com under the investor relations tab, or from the Company by contacting the Investor Relations department. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management s experience in the industry, as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors management believes are appropriate under the circumstances as of the date of this presentation unless specified as of some earlier date. MetroPCS undertakes no duty to update or supplement any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Unless otherwise noted, all information presented herein is taken or derived from publicly available information. MetroPCS is a service mark of MetroPCS Wireless, Inc. Other service marks or trademarks made herein are the property of their respective owners. 2
Agenda MetroPCS Overview Details of our 4G LTE Network Launch Samsung Craft LTE/CDMA Handset LTE Why First?/Why Now? Deployment Challenges What s Next 3
Major Market Focus Focus on serving major metro areas Expand into adjacent areas with communities of interest near major markets Provide Metro USA nationwide coverage to more than 280 million POPs or 90% of the U.S. population Coverage in Major Metro Areas New York City Los Angeles Chicago San Francisco Dallas/Ft. Worth Philadelphia Houston Atlanta Washington, DC Detroit Phoenix Boston Miami San Diego Cleveland Denver St. Louis Tampa Baltimore Pittsburgh 4
Industry Leading Customer Adoption 8.0 7.0 6.0 (in millions) Subscriber Trends 35% CAGR 5 million subscribers 6 million subscribers Over 7.8 million subscribers Total Subscribers 5.0 4.0 3.0 2 million subscribers 3 million subscribers 4 million subscribers 1 million 2.0 subscribers 1.0 0.0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 5
Taking the Road Less Traveled Pioneered Flat rate Unlimited category No annual contract Pay in Advance Low cost provider Early technology adopter 1xRTT/CDMA network in 02 6 sector base stations in 04 All-IP backhaul in 05 DAS networks in 07 Technology driven cost/price leadership Give customers a post-pay experience with predictability, flexibility and affordability 6
Leadership: First 4G LTE Launch in the Americas Chose LTE technology for 4G in 3Q 2008 Selected Samsung as our handset partner in 1Q 2009 Signed contract with Ericsson in September 2009 Signed contract with Samsung in March 2010 First commercial 4G LTE, Las Vegas 9/21/10 First commercial dual-mode LTE/CDMA handset from Samsung, 9/21/10 First Ericsson 4G LTE, DFW 9/29/10 Detroit 10/20/10, LA & Phil 11/4/10 Remaining 4G LTE markets launching by EOY 2010 and early 2011 4G LTE is a Transformational Technology and is expected to be the World Standard
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Samsung Craft (SCH-R900) World s first 4G LTE handset for $299 (after $50 instant rebate) Multi mode device with 4G LTE, 1xRTT, EVDO, and Wi Fi, GPS and Bluetooth connectivity 3.3 AMOLED touch screen with slide out QWERTY keyboard Enhanced HTML Web browser and TouchWiz UI TM 3.2 megapixel camera and camcorder w/ auto focus 2GB microsd memory card pre loaded Star Trek (expandable up to 32GB) HD video support Dimensions 5.20 oz. 4.48 x 2.21 x 0.6 9
LTE WHY FIRST? WHY NOW? 10
Mobile Data Dilemma Create differentiated t doffers based on value and willingness to pay 66% of mobile data traffic will be video** 44% of data used on iphones on Wifi 28% of data used on Android devices on WiFi* Built Network Capacity Data Demand Satisfying demandd Policy Enforcement Optimization Wi-Fi Offload Not able to satisfy demand * - Cisco Global Mobile DataTraffic Forecast Update, 2009-2014 (2/2010) 11
Spectral efficiency: HSPA, LTE and WiMAX Based on Average Throughput per Sector 2,0 Downlink Uplink Spe ectrum Efficienc cy [bps/hz/sect tor] 1,5 10 1,0 0,5 0.70 0.30 1.51 0.70 1.73 170 1.70 1.05 0.98 1.06 0.43 0,0 HSPA R6 HSPA Evolution LTE FDD LTE TDD 3:2 WiMAX W2 DL: 2x2, UL:1x2 DL: 2x2, UL:1x2 DL: 2x2, UL:1x2 TDD 22:15 DL: 2x2, UL:1x2 12
Why First/ Why Now? Maximize usage of our spectrum and existing infrastructure assets Leapfrog 3G technology Timing and cost-performance Motivate the LTE ecosystem Partnering early with best of breed suppliers Support our strategy of graceful migration to VoLTE Address our unique requirements such as 1.4, 3, and 5MHz BW Meet customers current and evolving demands 13
It s a network transformation Global Standards and open ecosystem key drivers Order of magnitude improvement over CDMA ~10x Data rates Capacity expansion CAPEX investment reduction Incremental OPEX backhaul savings VoIP with VoLTE is key Flat, all-ip network to scale Global l Economies of Scale Future with LTE Advanced 14
DEPLOYMENT CHALLANGES 15
4G LTE & CDMA Network CDMA MSC MME HSS Aggregation Router MPLS Core S/P Gateway PCRF DAS Network Data Center Applications, e.g., SMS, DPI, Internet Gateway CDMA BTS LTE enodeb Public Internet Drive commonality between LTE and CDMA where it makes sense 16
LTE Challenges Vendor Selection Handset/Chipset LTE & CDMA Interference Antenna Sharing & DAS Macro enb and RRH Cell Edge Data Rates Technical, financial, resources, schedule, supply chain, partnership, etc Availability of dual mode CDMA/LTE devices Minimize the Effect on the CDMA network and RF optimization Sharing antennas between the two access technologies Timing and soft cost of structural and site preparations Working applications at the cell edge including video Cell Site Routers & Aggregation Routers Testing Cell Site Routers and Aggregation Routers with enbs Backhaul Upgrading to Ethernet t backhaul to satisfy the traffic increase epc/oss Performance SON Implementation End User Quality New Market Launch IODT Spectrum Clearing Standard Compliance High quality operation of MME, SGW, PGW, HSS, and PCRF and OSS Auto-integration of enb and RF optimization Network Quality perceived by the end user Launch new markets when an existing market is operational Interoperability between handset and infrastructure Complete spectrum clearing in all AWS markets (DOD & Govt.) Different vendor interpretation & implementation of standards at bit level 17
Antenna Sharing Challanges 3 sector BTS vs. 6 sector BTS Single band AWS or PCS vs. Dual Band AWS and PCS SIMO antenna sharing is shown below (in-band) Diplexers required required for out-of-band solution Extra cabling required and RX diversity gain balance No impact to TX side; Minimal impact to RX MIMO antenna sharing Diplexers required required for out-of-band solution Filter/Combiners required for in-band solution 18
Backhaul Challenges Time to market for our 4G network build-out Cost Rapid rollout required adding T1s for enb integration Ethernet availability Add capacity post launch with T1s, fiber, or microwave Technology selected based lowest cost per Megabit at each cell site Carrier Ethernet MRC cost per Megabit for 5, 10, 20, 50 Mbps Rollover of T1s to Ethernet Price Per MB Cell site routers and aggregation routers Combine CDMA + LTE backhaul IP RAN Design VLANs and EVCs Traffic Shaping & policing QoS SLA 5 10 20 50 100 50 500 1000 0 200 400 600 800 1000 19
Handset Development Multi-Band/Multi Mode CDMA/EVDO/LTE/Wi-Fi handset CDMA supported on 850, 1900(PCS) & 1700/2100(AWS1) bands CDMA Voice with LTE Data LTE system acquisition iti at power up Optimize battery life IODT and IOT with two infrastructure vendors 20
Handset IODT/IOT PHY Layer IODT Point to point basic Layer 1 functional test between enb and UE PHY Layer and some Layer 2 MAC functions are included Control channel parameters are set manually LAB IODT PHY Layer and Full protocol stack testing Testing under integrated LTE Network configuration Single and multi-ue test executed using all elements of LTE network including enb, MME, SGW, PGW, PCRF, and OSS Field IOT Operator s network configuration with dynamic RF environment The RF test environment is changed to outdoor and terminal is in a moving vehicle - including multipath, fading, and doppler shift 21
WHAT S NEXT? 22
What s Next 4G LTE: Build out remaining CDMA footprint Expand LTE market coverage through 2011 Expand handset portfolio with smartphones and Android handsets Deploy DAS, microcells, or picocells to fill in capacity Refarm CDMA spectrum for LTE use Aggressively move down VoIP over LTE (VoLTE) path Objectives Beyond LTE Reduce network cost (Lower cost per bit) Increase Spectral Efficiency cy (Data Rate or Number of Users s or Quality) Improve enb scheduler performance using advanced techniques Automate intelligent system optimization using SON Improve system performance at low mobility Deploy advanced signal processing techniques to enhance throughput at the cell edge 23
LTE Advanced LTE Advanced Up to 1 Gbps Provide peak data rates of 300 Mbps to 750 Mbps (2x2 MIMO) and 1 Gbps (4x4 MIMO) Heterogeneous Networks (macro, picocells, relays, femtocells) Multicarrier Aggregation from 40 MHz to 100 MHz Asymmetric links aggregate more downlink capacity Enhanced multi-antenna transmission techniques 24
The Road Ahead 4G LTE evolution is key to the future low-cost, high-value offerings 4G LTE is catalyst to transform the entire network Wireless connectivity becomes pervasive and affordable for All Future is any wireless appliance on any network Consumers win! 25
Thank You 26