re: G-WCDMA & HSDPA
* Ericsson spokesman James Borup views G-WCDMA as a "naming exercise ... what they would call evolved 3G or HSDPA."
>> Nokia to Launch HSDPA in 2004 via 'G-WCDMA'
Global Mobile
Issue 23, 18 December 2002
Nokia has announced commercial plans to deploy high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) in the U.S. to coincide with the Federal Communications Commission's auction of new 3G spectrum in 2004-2005.
The service, dubbed G-WCDMA, is an amalgamation of existing 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications aimed at increasing the performance of the downlink.
By adopting downlink shared channel (DSCH) from 3GPP's Release 99 and HSDPA from Release 5, Nokia claims to evolve WCDMA from speeds totaling 2Mbps to anything up to 15Mbps by using G-WCDMA as a software upgrade.
Nokia's plans were first made public in an analyst briefing, and the lack of a formal announcement defining the service has sparked a flurry of reports claiming G-WCDMA is a new standard. "It is not a new standard," said Thomas Jonsson, senior manager communications at Nokia. "It is a further developed version of WCDMA." Kai Konola, director of marketing and sales for IP Mobility Networks at Nokia, said that DSCH and HSDPA are the key functionalities in G-WCDMA and that it does not include proprietary standards from Nokia. "[But] other functionalities are in the pipeline and are being discussed," he noted.
According to Nokia, the technology, also available in the 1900MHz and 2500MHz bands, will be backward-compatible with not only GSM and WCDMA, but also cdma2000. G-WCDMA will offer interoperability at the application level between WCDMA and cdma2000 by using the single IMS reference model that both the 3GPP and 3GPP2 working groups agreed to adopt for IMS roaming at a core network-harmonization meeting in April. Through such an understanding, "we are driving toward a globally adopted WCDMA," Konola said.
But Konola ruled out any further convergence between WCDMA and cdma2000.
"Convergence will come in the service layer and not in the physical layer," he said. "I don't see network integration happening between WCDMA and cdma2000 in the radio network."
The fact that Nokia does not appear to have approached any of the working groups within either 3GPP or 3GPP2, because G-WCDMA is based on recognized specifications, meant that the announcement took the industry by surprise.
Fran O'Brien, director of standards at Lucent, said he was not familiar with what G-WCDMA actually was. "I've contacted both the 3GPP and 3GPP2 teams [within Lucent]," he said, "and both are unaware of [G-WCDMA]." But Ericsson spokesman James Borup views G-WCDMA more as a "naming exercise ... what we would call evolved 3G or HSDPA."
But it is no coincidence that the development of G-WCDMA is synchronized with the planned FCC spectrum auctions. While G-WCDMA will be available in all frequency allocations to any WCDMA networks, it is specifically targeting the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands in the U.S. Notably, the U.S. is one of the major markets in which Nokia does not have a significant presence. "Apart from the deal with AT&T, it does not have a good foothold [in the U.S.] at the network level," said Tommy Ljunggren, co-founder of consulting firm Northstream. He added that the announcement was "a big step" because "HSDPA is the EDGE of WCDMA."
Nokia is discussing WCDMA and GSM developments with all operators in the U.S., including CDMA operators, Konola confirmed. And its G-WCDMA announcement could gain more credence as 1xEV-DO comes under pressure with the news that Verizon Wireless expressed concerns about spectrum regarding its CDMA upgrade path. Speaking at a briefing of Lehman Brothers analysts, Verizon Wireless CEO Dennis Strigl said the operator would concentrate on developing its 1xRTT network, casting doubt on its 1xEV-DO trials in Washington, D.C. and San Diego.
"We haven't committed to a deployment date for EV-DO, but we have not scrapped plans," said a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, adding that the company is adopting a "wait-and-see approach." But Verizon's executive director of networks, Bill Stone, said the company would launch 1xEV-DV services by 2004.
Likewise, Sprint PCS has not committed to EV-DO, although it also plans to implement EV-DV in the future. <<
More on HSDPA development below:
>> New DoCoMo Service Could Reach Speeds of 14.4 Mbps
3G Newsroom
December 17, 2002
3gnewsroom.com
NTT DoCoMo has begun developing a new 3G mobile phone service that has a maximum Internet access speed of 14.4 megabits per second, company sources said. This is faster than the 12-megabit asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) cell phone services currently available
DoCoMo hopes to begin piloting the service in autumn of next year but has not indicated when they will launch the service.
The new service relies on adding a new technology called high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), to the DoCoMo's current WCDMA platform. Current FOMA, brand name for DoCoMo's 3G service, handsets has a maximum data speed of 384 kbps. Once HSDPA is integrated, users can exchange high-quality video images and sounds at an average speed of 2 to 4 megabits per second. <<
- Eric - |
