NEW DELHI: Telecom service providers next-generation leap has an apparent challenge staring at 4.5G technology-powered device ecosystem with low-to-mid tier smartphones lacking support for the newer technology.“Device availability is a biggest challenge today. We are doing everything on network side. Consumers wouldn’t benefit from standard bands or newer technology, and our investments may go waste,” a leading telco executive who do not wish to be named told ETTelecom.“We are going to the regulator and device ecosystem and asking them to work alongside and even ahead of us and bring necessary enhancements early,” he added.The 4. 5G technology or LTE-Advanced Pro, is expected to play a crucial role in the transition from 4G to 5G with the Manoj Sinha-led telecom department making efforts for technology leapfrog. However, the existing ecosystem bottleneck may make newer technology adoption unexciting.India’s ace carrier Bharti Airtel has though commercially deployed 4.5G based on Massive MIMO technology on 2300 Mhz band spectrum in select regions including Bengaluru and Kolkata together with Chinese vendor Huawei while Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) and Reliance Jio are conducting pilots to commercially launch 4.5G soon.“We have added 4x4 Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology but it doesn't apparently support affordable smartphones available today. Network functionality should also be there in devices,” the person quoted above said.Incumbents, in a run up to the government-promoted fifth-generated or 5G technology field trials in 2019 and expected commercial deployments starting 2020 are, however, eyeing to deploy 4.5G technology before embracing 5G with full throttle.“The form factor and technological capabilities of low-cost smartphones limits the ability to support 4.5G technologies as it has to be supported at the chipset level as well,” Prashant Singhal , Global Telecoms & TMT Emerging Markets Leader at EY said.An executive at one of the top three mobile chipset makers said that the company has already done 4.5G proof-of-concepts with service providers and device vendors but there was an outward lack of enthusiasm among the latter.Queries to mobile handset lobby groups— Indian Cellular Association (ICA) and The Mobile Association (TMA) didn’t elicit any response.Device ecosystem readiness must be addressed before launching any new technology by telcos, and it will be a key prerequisite if 4.5G were to target a mass market,” Deepak Kumar, Founder Analyst of B&M Nxt said.The availability of affordable 4.5G devices, Kumar said, would be vital for the market to take off and operators would need to work more closely with the device makers on the front.Singhal said that the commercial 4G networks are being upgraded to enable 4.5G capabilities worldwide, and it features higher downlink or 1 Gbps speed, improved efficiency and support for new use cases.Since 2017, various global original equipment makers have introduced smartphones in the premium category that support 4.5G technology, according to the London-based professional services firm.The key features that are crucial to support 4.5G or Gigabit LTE include massive Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO), Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and carrier aggregation.The new technology, according to EY’s telecom leader, has been necessitated due to the exponential growth in data traffic and to deliver an enhanced customer experience.“We have ushered in the LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro era with industry-first Snapdragon LTE modems supporting Gigabit LTE technology, and continue to lead the evolution of LTE with new innovations as well as solutions to efficiently meet the explosion in mobile data traffic across tiers and different price segments,” the US-based chipset company Qualcomm in a statement said.The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), in a study said that nearly 140 carriers across countries were investing in 4.5G technology globally as of August 2018 which however points to a significant traction in coming months.