Asia Pacific lead in 3G deployment
SUDHIR CHOWDHARY
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2003 02:32:00 PM ]
Spread spectrum technology, the basis of both the CDMA2000 and UMTS third-generation (3G) wireless standards, will constitute 75 per cent of the global mobility market by 2005, up from 30 per cent this year.
Telecom operators in Asia Pacific are among those in the forefront of the worldwide migration to 3G networks. A series of major 3G code division multiple access (CDMA) contract wins in the Asia-Pacific region in the past several months are indicators to this emerging trend.
Additionally, several recent reports from leading industry research firms indicate that spread-spectrum technologies (including CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 1X EV, and UMTS/Wideband CDMA) will account for more than half of all new wireless subscribers worldwide by 2005, and that adoption of spread spectrum will continue to accelerate through 2007.
Already, Lucent Technologies, a leader in the development and deployment of third-generation (3G) spread-spectrum technology, has benefited from this trend, announcing a series of major 3G code division multiple access (CDMA) contract wins in the Asia-Pacific region in the past several months.
Lucent's recent contracts with leading Asia Pacific service providers will significantly enhance the mobile services available to subscribers in four key markets, namely China, India, Korea and New Zealand. Each of these markets is set to experience the rapid expansion of advanced wireless data services, with enterprise users in particular representing considerable market opportunities for service providers.
China Unicom, an industry leader in the fastest growing mobility market in the world, is deploying Lucent's CDMA 1X equipment under the second phase of a CDMA wireless contract. Building on successful testing and demonstrations of the CDMA 1X technology by the two partners, the deployment will enable China Unicom to offer high-speed wireless data services throughout an extensive service area in 10 provinces. The CDMA 1X enhancements will also provide additional capacity of about five million subscribers by the end of this month.
KTF, a leading Korean wireless service provider with more than ten million subscribers, is upgrading its 2G network in the Kyungsang province to CDMA2000 1X, doubling voice capacity and enabling high-speed data services such as wireless Internet access and video streaming at speeds of up to 153 kilobits per second (kbps).
Closer home, Reliance Infocomm, a leading service provider, has rolled out a nationwide 3G CDMA2000 wireless network based on Lucent Flexent base stations--which support 3G CDMA2000 1X service--and mobile switching centres. The five-year contract covers this equipment, as well as design and consulting services, and installation and maintenance support.
Tata Teleservices, India's private basic telephony service provider, is also deploying Lucent's Flexent base stations and mobile switching centres to create high-speed 3G CDMA2000 wireless networks in several Indian states. This will allow the mobile operator to provide high-quality voice services as well as to introduce high-speed data capabilities to businesses.
A major reason as to why mobile operators in the Asia-Pacific Region, and worldwide, are turning to 3G spread spectrum technology, is the fact that this helps them tap the huge revenue potential of 3G by allowing them to offer attractive new high-speed data services while also supplying substantial voice capacity on the same network.
Then, with the convergence of the PC and mobile phone, networks based on 3G spread spectrum technology, are enabling operators to provide high-quality voice services as well as advanced wireless data services such as access to email, including emails with large video, audio or graphics attachments, high-speed connections to corporate intranets and streaming video, and next-generation data services.
Initially targeted to the needs of mobile business professionals, the new 3G data services will enable subscribers to download information and access business-critical applications--quickly, reliably and securely--from an array of devices, including laptops, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and 3G phones.
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