re: Rod Nelson of AWS on the GPRS Rollout & Upgrade to EDGE
* GSM/GPRS was deployed in markets representing 45 percent of AWS pops by the end of last year.
* Customers in 10 states covering more than 30 major cities can now receive GSM/GPRS voice and high-speed data services.
* GPRS providing data speeds on the order of 25-30 Kbps for handsets
* GPRS providing data speeds on the order of 35-40 Kbps for PDAs and laptops equipped with wireless modems.
* Data compression services can boost the perceived speed of common Internet applications running on PDAs and laptops by a factor of three or more.
* Advanced technology, such as frequency hopping, will allow the GSM network to carry more calls than TDMA for given spectrum.
* The GSM platform will offer further substantial gains in capacity with Adaptive Multirate Vocoder technology.
* With AMR and frequency hopping scheduled to be deployed later this year, calculations from our labs and vendors show the voice capacity of GSM with AMR is on par with any competing technology.
* In the third quarter over two dozen GPRS data enabled devices will be available.
* If EDGE devices are built to specifications similar to GPRS, customers could expect average data speeds to be three times that of GPRS.
* "why EDGE" - AT&T Wireless will receive faster speeds with essentially a software upgrade, using the same spectrum as GPRS, for a very small percentage of the overall cost of moving from GPRS to UMTS.
* The next point of focus is linking the network with GSM carriers in other parts of the world through international roaming agreements -- giving customers a seamless connection for their wireless voice and data services.
AWS expectations for speed and capacity here:
Message 17332362
>> AT&T Wireless Keeps GSM/GPRS Rolling
Rod Nelson, EVP & CTO
AT&T Wireless
Reprinted from
Global Mobile
March 13, 2002
3gamericas.org
When AT&T Wireless first announced plans in October 2000 to overlay its next generation GSM/GPRS wireless network on top of its TDMA footprint, it was viewed as a monumental task by analysts, customers, media - and even our employees. Most were skeptical.
Three questions kept arising:
- Can they do it on schedule?
- Can they do it cost effectively?
- Can they market service to customers?
The simple answers are yes, yes and yes.
GSM/GPRS was deployed in markets representing 45 percent of our pops by the end of last year, eclipsing our goal of 40 percent - and we did it on budget!
Additionally, customers in 10 states covering more than 30 major cities can now receive GSM/GPRS voice and high-speed data services.
The network rollout last year provided some initial challenges.
- Would we be able to co-locate TDMA and GPRS sites as we expected?
- Would GPRS work as expected?
- Would our support systems be able to manage the new network?
The answer to these and other questions became clear when we turned on Seattle last July as our first market. Now, with nine months of experience behind us, we've become old pros at turning up the network in new markets.
Nine Month Report Card
The experience gained in 2001 shows that we can deploy the equipment, GPRS will work as expected and our support systems can be deployed.
We are now more confident than ever about the rollout and the performance of our new network platform.
Advanced technology, such as frequency hopping, will allow the GSM network to carry more calls than TDMA for given spectrum.
The GSM platform will offer further substantial gains in capacity with Adaptive Multirate Vocoder technology. With AMR and frequency hopping scheduled to be deployed later this year, calculations from our labs and vendors show the voice capacity of GSM with AMR is on par with any competing technology.
GPRS is also performing according to expectations. We're seeing GPRS providing data speeds on the order of 25-30 Kbps for handsets and 35-40 Kbps for PDAs and laptops equipped with wireless modems. We also offer data compression services which can boost the perceived speed of common Internet applications running on PDAs and laptops by a factor of three or more.
We expect to deliver this same consistency when we boost GPRS speeds with E-GPRS or EDGE. If EDGE devices are built to specifications similar to GPRS, customers could expect average data speeds to be three times that of GPRS.
And for those of you wondering, "why EDGE," here are a few noteworthy items to jot down.
AT&T Wireless will receive faster speeds with essentially a software upgrade, using the same spectrum as GPRS, for a very small percentage of the overall cost of moving from GPRS to UMTS.
More Devices…Please
One concern we had centered on the availability of devices. The network was operating as expected but customers were not given much choice of handsets or other devices. While we knew this would be a short-term issue, it gave our critics room for skepticism.
For example, many industry commentators believed the upgrade from cdmaOne to cdma2000 would be simpler, offer higher data speeds, and offer a broader range of devices than our 3G path. Yet Verizon Wireless's Express Network that launched in January - which uses 1xRTT and is available in 20% of its network -- is available on just one handset and one modem card, and offers data speeds of 40-60 Kbps, according to Verizon. GPRS seems to be very competitive in terms of choice of devices, data speeds and network coverage. In addition, GPRS is more widely available in the United States, as AT&T Wireless, Voicestream and Cingular have deployed GPRS.
Since launching Seattle with a single handset, customers can now choose from several GSM/GPRS phones from Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola, and laptop/PDA mobile connections. More devices and services for both consumers and businesses are making their way to market. Additionally, more non-traditional devices, or "hybrids" - a cross between phone and PDA, such as the TREO or Blackberry - will soon be available. In the third quarter we estimate that over two dozen GPRS data enabled devices will be available.
We expect GSM/GPRS to really take later this year as our network coverage grows, additional services are launched and more devices become available.
Companies such as Handspring and RIM are developing hybrids for GPRS before any other wireless technology because of its global scale.
Where to Next?
AT&T Wireless' GSM/GPRS network continues to grow and perform and our vendors are delivering both infrastructure and devices.
More than 75 percent of world's wireless subscribers are served by GSM, and GPRS is being widely deployed by wireless carriers throughout Europe.
The next point of focus is linking our network with GSM carriers in other parts of the world through international roaming agreements -- giving customers a seamless connection for their wireless voice and data services.
While AT&T Wireless already has roaming agreements with several GSM/GPRS carriers serving North America and parts of Europe, our goal is to broaden these agreements to truly have our customers receive all the benefits of the GSM/GPRS global standard. <<
- Eric - |
