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High-Speed Data Services to Result from cdmaOne Technology
February 28, 2000 (TOKYO) -- A new type of affordable wireless data telecom technology based on cdmaOne has emerged as a strong contender with the potential to challenge IMT-2000, the next-generation mobile phone standard.
If high data rate (HDR) know-how, a new wireless telecom technology developed by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., is combined with an existing cdmaOne phone system, the resulting network can transmit data packets at high speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps.
Low-cost services are expected with the new system, which makes use of existing infrastructure. It's likely that wireless data communications services with speeds in the range of several hundreds of kbps will be made available for monthly fees of only a few thousand yen. (111.24 yen = US$1)
As with asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology, which is increasingly being employed to provide high-speed data services on fixed-line networks, HDR could be used to offer the same type of services on wireless networks.
KT Freetel Co., Ltd., a Korean telecom operator, says it has already decided to introduce the system in Korea in 2001.
HDR Service to Be Launched in Korea in 2001
Services employing HDR technology resemble those using ADSL in that they transmit data at asymmetric speeds for the downstream and upstream directions.
In the downstream direction, when data is being sent from the base station to a user's phone handset or other terminal, HDR can be used to transmit at a maximum speed of 2.4 Mbps. In the opposite, or upstream, direction, data travels at a slower pace, at speeds of up to around 300 kbps. Even when taking into consideration other factors that could affect services under real operating conditions in large cities, it is likely that HDR services will be able to transmit at average speeds of 600 kbps downstream and 150 kbps to 200 kbps upstream. The adverse factors include radio interference.
Qualcomm conducted public field tests of HDR technology in November 1999 in San Diego. At that time, the company urged telecom operators and makers of telecom equipment from around the world to adopt the know-how. Among Japanese telecom carriers, DDI Corp., IDO Corp. and KDD Corp. all participated in the tests.
KT Freetel is the world's first operator to formally decide to employ the technology.
Hitachi Ltd., which has conducted joint development with Qualcomm on HDR portable phone systems, is working to develop equipment such as wireless base stations and servers. It hopes to secure orders from KT Freetel.
Existing cdmaOne Base Stations Can be Used for HDR Services
Services employing HDR technology can share the same antennas and power supply apparatus that are used by existing cdmaOne systems. The channel used by HDR is specially allocated for data communications and is separate from the voice channel.
The advantage for telecom operators is that they are spared the costs incurred in building wireless base stations. This is the most expensive factor when constructing a new wireless network. They will only need to purchase and install equipment to form the backbone of a router network.
HDR uses the same frequency bandwidth, 1.25 MHz, as is used by today's cdmaOne phone systems. This makes it extremely efficient when compared with IMT-2000 services.
When they are launched, IMT-2000 services will need a hefty 5 MHz bandwidth to provide users with transmission speeds of 384 kbps. The reason is that with HDR the network's base stations are capable of continually monitoring the quality and strength of signals from users' terminals. The base stations can automatically adjust the downstream transmission speed to suit the distance between the user and the base station, or for when the user moves from an area with good reception to one with poor reception.
Because HDR systems will be relatively inexpensive to build, user fees will likely be lower than those for IMT-2000 services.
The costs of HDR are about a fifth of those for IMT-2000, according to Tetsuzo Matsumoto, president of Qualcomm's Japan subsidiary.
When a U.S. carrier estimated the amount of required investment, it calculated that the cost of setting up an HDR network would be just US$104 per user. Fixed user fees, along with typical charges for the volume of data transmitted over the course of a month -- around 5 MBs, could be expected to add up to an average of just US$10 or so per month for a typical user.
Although these estimates are provided by the developers of the technology and should perhaps be treated with some skepticism, HDR networks should be capable of offering wireless data communications services with high-speeds of several hundreds of kbps for fairly low monthly charges of several thousand yen.
Performance in Urban Areas Still Untested
One of the drawbacks of HDR is that the user handsets or terminals will need to be bulkier than those for ordinary cdmaOne telephone services. In order to make use of the same bandwidth as cdmaOne, but also to be able to transmit data at much greater speeds, HDR terminals must be equipped with large-capacity batteries. Therefore, it is likely that HDR handsets will be comparatively large.
Hitachi is one of the companies that will soon start developing HDR terminals and is playing down the size difference.
According to Sadaatsu Okasaka, an engineer at Hitachi's Telecoms Division of CDMA System Section, the size difference will not be significant because the speed that data is transmitted in the upstream direction is the main factor determining how much power a terminal uses. He said that when HDR data is sent upstream from the handset all that changes is that another parameter is added to cdmaOne and the level of efficiency is improved in the way the frequency range is utilized. Thus, he argues, power consumption will not be a major problem.
Another potential problem, and one that even Hitachi recognizes, is that HDR has no track record of operating in urban areas with substantial radio interference. To gauge the seriousness of this issue, Hitachi will soon carry out field tests in some urban regions of Korea and elsewhere.
Fixed-Fee HDR Services Might Also Become Available
The DDI group, which offers cdmaOne phone services in Japan, has not yet taken any clear position with a view to adopting HDR. In contrast to DDI's cautious stance, IDO seems more interested in the technology and is contemplating outdoor testing before the end of 2000. DDI and IDO are set to merge in October and details remain unclear. However, assuming that HDR does prove capable of overcoming its potential problems, it is likely that DDI will follow IDO's lead and start preparing to introduce its own HDR services.
The DDI group intends to start offering IMT-2000 services, using the 2GHz frequency band, after 2002. When its IMT-2000 services become available, the 800 MHz band used for current services won't be fully utilized. Therefore, if HDR services are introduced in the 800 MHz frequency range, they could be used to offer an alternative high-speed data communications network.
Moreover, HDR services, which are inexpensive to set up and are ideally suited to carrying high-speed data traffic, also are more likely than IMT-2000 to be made available on a fixed-fee basis. If low-cost, fixed-fee HDR services do appear, they could reduce demand for IMT-2000 services as concerns high-speed wireless data communications.
Related stories:
Qualcomm Unveils High-Data-Rate Wireless Internet System
KT Freetel to Use Qualcomm's Speedy Wireless Net Technology
(Kaoru Takatsuki, Staff Editor, Nikkei Communications) |
