re: 1xRTT - Upgrade or Overlay
... of posible interest.
>> Which Is Superior, Upgrade or Overlay?
By Kim, Kyu-tae
May 08, 2001
Korea eTimes
Regarding the network of cdma2000 1x, mobile telecommunication providers are arguing that the investment in their own company's products will bring superior investment effects comparing with the investment cost. SK Telecom and SK Shinsegi Telecom. Inc. have been providing the cdma2000 1x service since October of last year and last March of this year respectively, followed by the KTF and LG Telecom which are to enter the cdma2000 1x service from this month.
SK Telecom and KTF used the 'overlay' method of newly establishing the IS95C network for the cdma2000 1x service. LG Telecom, on the other hand, insists that 'upgrade' method of changing only the board of the existing IS95C equipment would allow the company to provide a better service than other companies with low investment cost.
The views of LG Telecom = The biggest advantage of upgrade method, which requires only partial change of equipment and does not require the establishment of separate base stations, is the low investment cost. In addition, this method makes it possible to secure the nationwide network in a short time since some parts of the equipment need to be altered. A spokesman for LG Telecom said that this advantage allowed the company to launch the service in the 97 areas.
He added that the problem of traffic increase could also be solved easily with this method. When the traffic increases due to the activation of the IS95C service, adding boards to the equipment of the base station can resolve this problem. He explained that 4 boards for IS95C could be set up at maximum, and if it were not enough to solve the traffic problem, the solution by the method of overlay would cover it.
The views of other service providers = They underestimate the upgraded method, arguing that the method has a limit in enlarging the capacity even though it takes low investment cost. They insist that if the IMT2000 service is delayed and the IS95C service last longer than expected, the upgraded method cannot be equal to the increased amount of traffics. As a result, they pointed out, " Overlapped investment in base stations with the method of overlay would be inevitable".
Besides, a spokesman for SK Telecom said that the capacity had increased in the Metropolitan area, by setting up the network compatible with the existing system of the overlay method, and that the company could produce a good result in addition to securing the IS95C network.
The officials of the related industry explained that the two different positions were related to how much the IS95C service could be activated, and forecast that the difference between the upgrade and the overlay method would be looming, depending on how service providers respond to the shift of customers to 2.5 generation. <<
- Eric - |
