chandramauli 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2004 Does GSM has the EDGE? NEERAJ SAXENA [ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2004 02:12:26 PM ] NEW DELHI: GSM operators are not the only ones who are worried about the rapid strides made by CDMA mobile players Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom in the Indian cellular market? The GSM suppliers – both handset and equipment - who incidentally also have their other foot firmly placed in the CDMA pie, are beginning to lose some sleep over what was earlier termed as `niche’ and `minuscule’ data carriage market by the operators Apart from the strong success of the two CDMA operators whose networks are based on code division multiple access (CDMA), the miserable showing of the four global standard for mobile (GSM) based networks that launched general packet radio service (GPRS) service for data connectivity last year, has the vendors worried. Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) now believes that even though India will primarily remain a voice traffic-led market in next two-three years, the data traffic component will grow by 25-30 per cent, an optimism that it’s trying to make GSM operators feel as well. The CDMA challenge CDMA players had launched their services with CDMA 2000 1X-based networks which can give hi-speed, always-on connectivity to the Internet and other data services. GSM operators, on the other hand, have had to migrate from the frustrating experience of WAP (wireless application protocol) to GPRS which has not significantly improved the subscriber’s experience of surfing the Net on/from mobile. The top brass of GSA), an organisation comprising Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies - met on Tuesday in the capital to persuade the operators to adopt EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and leave GPRS behind as a dream gone sour. Only Airtel, Hutch, BPL Mobile and Idea Cellular had launched GPRS, but the data transfer speeds of GPRS have been abysmal. The field trials gave a speed of around 54 kbps, but the actual speeds have not exceeded 14-18 kbps, a major reason why GPRS growth has been so slow. As against the total GSM cellular base of 2.61 crore, the country has between 80,000-1 lakh GPRS users only. In comparison, the two CDMA operators have about 90 lakh connections. All these sets are data compliant. Though no figures are available as to how many use these for data services, the figure is believed to be respectable as a percentage ratio for CDMA. Bharti is almost there But first, the EDGE! Bharti Cellular is close to commercially launching its EDGE service in Delhi and Mumbai by end May or early June, sources said. The company was the first to conduct field trials in November with its equipment supplier Ericsson. Idea too held EDGE field trials in February this year with its vendor Nokia. Hutch and BPL are yet to hold the trials. The two companies would eventually migrate to EDGE, but perhaps after seeing the response to Bharti’s service. EDGE holds the promise of delivering data speeds of around 170-180 kbps (as against the theoretical speed of around 380 kbps) which, if achieved, promises the launch of many data applications. The scalable cost of migrating from GPRS to EDGE is not too high and mainly comprises software upgrades in case of a modern network such as Bharti and Hutch, claimed chairman of GSA India chapter Rakesh Malik. Will GSM maintain its headstart? At the GSM Evolution Forum held in New Delhi, GSA president Alan Hadden predicted that GSM growth will far outstrip CDMA as was happening globally. He felt India could have as many as 100 million GSM subscribers by 2007-2008, up from nine million in December 2002. According to GSA, there are over 1 billion GSM subscribers worldwide as against 200 million CDMA customers. The revenue of top 25 global operators from data averages 18 per cent and 22 of these operators run GSM networks. Overall, there are 76 operators in 50 countries that have committed to deploy EDGE. Almost every country has a GSM-based network and even those US operators which operated on now-defunct TDMA technology were migrating gradually to GSM, not CDMA, pointed out Hadden at the GSM Evolution Forum. The Forum is a global GSA program to assist the operators for evolution to third generation (3G) technologies. “People are using their phones for much more than voice. Fifteen networks have commercially launched EDGE as it can run 3G like services in the existing spectrum for the operators without needing a 3G license. Even the migration to a full-fledged 3G level of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) will be smooth with EDGE,” said Hadden. “Besides, the automatic roaming provided by GSM networks in almost 200 countries is a power that CDMA doesn’t give you. We know for sure that almost 20-25 per cent of the revenue for some GSM operators comes from roaming customers,” he added. But CDMA is no pushover with Korea and Philippines as the shining jewels in its crown. The first CDMA 2000 1X was commercially deployed in October 2000. Already, 81 operators have launched 77 CDMA 2000 1X networks whereas nine have launched services based on 1xEV-DO platform across Asia, the Americas and Europe. At least, 16 new 1X and six 1xEV-DO networks are scheduled to be deployed in 2004, according to CDMA Development Group. EV-DO and EV-DV are the next level of evolution on the CDMA 2000 1X platform, capable of delivering services comparable to 3G WCDMA. Where are the models? What will matter a lot in this war will be the availability of EDGE compliant handsets at affordable rates. While the two CDMA operators have been giving out handsets that can give hi-speed data transfer, same has not been the case with GSM. Even now, GPRS handsets have not become commonplace and GPRS feature is found only in mid and high-end segment handsets. EDGE handsets have just begun trickling in to the market. Nokia has launched 6220 and 3200 in India so far, while its’ 7600 is a WCDMA phone. On the anvil is 7610, an enhanced GPRS phone. Siemens and others are close to launching a couple of EDGE sets this summer. In contrast, there are more than 524 CDMA handsets available in the market with colour displays, cameras and global positioning system (GPS) capabilities. Most of these can work on CDMA 2000 1X, delivering speeds almost like EDGE. End sum game When EDGE is deployed by the networks, subscribers can expect the delivery of advanced mobile services such as easy downloading of video and music clips, full multimedia messaging, besides high-speed Internet and e-mail access, provided their handset supports all this. But the real cruncher will be the migration at a later stage to 3G technologies such as WCDMA, EV-DO or EV-DA as and when the government decides what to do with the 3G licences. WCDMA for example promises delivery of a phenomenal 2 megabytes per second (mbps), equivalent to what a leased line in many middle level corporates gives. More importantly, WCDMA will spawn a whole new range of full motion audio-video applications, including video telephony. GSM lobby may continue to remain gung ho over the future of their technologies over that boosted by the American firms Qualcomm and Motorola, but Indian market could well throw an interesting scenario that industry experts will do well to watch. In the coming months, Reliance plans to offer its CDMA subscribers much more than what GSM players intend to deliver through their EDGE for their subscribers. Who succeeds in this battle for mobile customer’s eyeballs is most difficult to predict. A Korea and Japan may not be waiting to happen in India, but India will probably be more like the Chinese market with both standards co-existing. For now, GSM rules! courtesy : indiatimes.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted September 23, 2004 VERY Informative....thanx this "WCDMA" sounds phenomenal....like, any idea who would be the service providers...? is RIL gonna "upgrade" to WCDMA ?(however far in the future it might be).... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anujit 0 Report post Posted September 23, 2004 RIM's upgrade path right now looks like from CDMA 2000 1x to CDMA EV-DO to CDMA EV-DV. EV-DV will offer freakishly fast speeds. As good if not better than WCDMA. WCDMA is more of an upgrade path for GSM service providers. Of course EV-DO is pretty close to launch in India. I think RIM is already carrying out some field trials and might offer the service in large cities by the end of this financial year, and already offering EV-DO enabled phones (the LG Video Camera phone is EV-DO)! Main problem however that EV-DO will retain as with 2000 1x - you can't use both Data & Voice simmultaneously as you can with GPRS enabled phones! And for people who use the phone for long hours on the internet - THIS REALLY s**ks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted September 24, 2004 cool.....'to EV-DO to EV-DV'.....got it. like, with each upgrade in the CDMA technology(BY THE PROVIDER), do we (the users) need to upgrade to a compatible handset ? .... doesnt sound sweet on the wallet.... its kinda funny here...i DO want tech upgrades, but i dont want to keep on upgradin my phone.... hope the leaps/upgrades happen at optimum time-intervels, so that the users (by themselves) are ready to ditch the older phone by that time ( like with our good old lg 2030 now) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
