Will UMTS give enough 3G speed?
VNU NET
November 11, 2002
IT Week staff.
The UMTS technology that underpins European mobile operators' plans for
third-generation (3G) mobile data networks is already dead, according to some leading
industry figures.
"(UMTS) can only offer 1.1Mbit/s shared between a large number of people, typically
giving them 80kbit/s each. GPRS already offers 50kbit/s to 60kbit/s," said Martin Cooper,
head of communications firm Array Comm.
Cooper believes that UMTS cannot succeed in its present form, as a result of technical
problems, financial uncertainty and low bandwidth. "UMTS is essentially dead. It may
come back in the future but as something different," he added, arguing that the
technology was not economically viable or reliable, and was not sufficiently better than
current second-generation (2G) GSM or GPRS technology to attract users.
However, Cooper's comments were criticised by Karl Heinz Rosenbrock, head of the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which is responsible for the
regulation and development of UMTS networks in Europe. "I certainly don't agree that
UMTS is dead. We are working on the UMTS specification with regional bodies and the
first networks are already started," he said.
Cooper argued that the mobile wireless industry needs faster, always-on, low-cost
wide-area coverage, and a change in attitude by operators to provide users with the
applications they want and are willing to pay for.
He predicted that the wireless industry will diversify to incorporate a range of
transmission technologies and services. "There is no single magic bullet that our industry
wants. Wireless will be a whole bunch of different services," he said. |
