3G Or Not 3G, That Is The Question
By Michael Bartlett, Newsbytes
individual.com
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
Take care to separate reality from the hype
surrounding third-generation (3G) mobile
communications systems.
That is the message from Martin Cooper, CEO of
ArrayComm. Cooper has some familiarity with
wireless communications. While at Motorola during
the 1970s he earned the nickname, "father of the
cellular phone" when he led the team that invented
the device that is now popular across the world.
Cooper today spoke on a panel about the wireless
economy on the final day of the IWireless World
conference. Later, he told Newsbytes that, despite
the hype over the long-anticipated arrival of 3G,
the new technology is merely an incremental
improvement over 2G, which is today's wireless
Internet technology.
"For most of the world, the standard for wireless
communication is GSM (global system for mobile
communications). GSM was created by a
committee and adopted by carriers," he explained.
"In the United States, the industry selected the
standards. The FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) only provided the spectrum and the
rules to keep different carriers from interfering with
each other."
Other countries, especially Japan and parts of
Northern Europe currently are ahead of the United
States in adoption and implementation of wireless
communication, but Cooper insisted this is a
short-term situation.
"There appears to be confusion in the US, but the
American public has many more choices when it
comes to carriers. Some of these companies will
survive, some will fail, but the bottom line is, the
service provided by European and US cell phones
is about the same."
Europe is ahead of the US in coverage, he said,
and in certain services that have been widely
adopted by European youngsters.
"Short messaging service (SMS) is very popular
with young people in Europe, even though it is
difficult to spell out messages using the telephone
key pad," he said. "This is an example of an
application that is used because someone finds
them useful. The key is function."
According to Cooper, the principle difference
between 2G, 3G and a third variation, 2.5G, is bit
rate, or the speed at which signals are transmitted.
He said the ability to carry data will be built-in on
3G, but must be added to 2G systems.
"2G transmits at 10 kilobits per second, while 3G is
2 megabits per second. However, 3G is a pipe that
must be shared by everyone on the channel," he
said. "In Japan, this is allocated at 64 kilobits per
subscriber. With wireless, the more persons
sharing, the less everyone gets."
Existing GSM systems can be upgraded to GPRS
(general packet radio service), which allows data
to be sent and received on the mobile telephone
network, said Cooper.
"Theoretically, 2.5G has a greater data rate than
3G. But one problem is, when the data rate goes
up, the range of the cell goes down. In a crowded
city, where there are lots of cells, that is not a
problem. But when you get out into the country,
less cell range means less coverage," he said.
"It sounds like I am down on these things, but I am
not," Cooper said. "I am down on the hype. 3G will
not fulfill dreams of sending pictures and data over
mobile networks."
The United States currently is in a "build out"
phase, he said. Spectrum has been allocated to
2G, with some companies moving to 2.5G.
"There are seven carriers who offer essentially the
same service. They will have to differentiate
themselves from one another," he said. "There will
not be 3G in the US for five years, maybe more. We
do not need it, because 2.5G does pretty much
what 3G does."
Japan has said it will be read for 3G this year, said
Cooper, an idea he dismissed as more hype.
Contrary to popular perception, he said, the wildly
popular I-Mode, by NTT DoCoMo, is not 3G, it is
Japan's version of 2G.
"I-Mode lets people sent low-resolution pictures,
graphics, and Kenji, which is Japanese characters
the user draws onto a touch screen," he said. "The
pictures take a long time to download, sometimes a
minute or two for a small picture. I- Mode is the
'Pong' of wireless Internet access," he added,
referring to the first generation video game from the
1970s.
Japan will have 3G first, and Europe is building its
3G networks now, Cooper said. It is unlikely that
either region will have 3G before 2003 or 2004, he
added.
More information on IWireless World is available
on the Web at iwirelessworld.com .
ArrayComm is online at arraycomm.com
.
Reported by Newsbytes.com,
newsbytes.com . |
