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To: Kent Rattey who wrote (101490)	7/10/2001 9:54:15 AM
From: ronho	Respond to of 152472

KT expresses pleasure with 1XEV-DO results and says W-CDMA is new investment that is a year or more further out than W-CDMA commercialization. teledotcom.com Wireless Rising by Yoko Mori Korea's second-largest mobile operator, KT Freetel, handles change well. Positioning itself to transform at least part of its network to third-generation (3G) wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) data networks from CDMA over the next few years, the company is bridging the gap with CDMA-based data services along the way. KT Freetel is rolling out cdma2000 1x-similar to two-and-a-half-generation (2.5G)-services next May. After that, the company will deploy an even more advanced technology called 1xEV-DO before moving on to W-CDMA deployment. Ultimately, the company's goal is to maintain two or three varying levels of data services, allowing users to choose and pay for whatever capability they actually need. KT Freetel executive vice president Won Pyo Hong has high hopes. The company's wireless penetration rate is currently 56 percent in South Korea, where the population totals 47 million, but that's expected to hit 70 percent by 2008, according to Hong. He calls that an “easy target to achieve.” What is your migration path to 3G? Is it first to 1x, then to 1xEV-DO, then to W-CDMA? That is the very likely scenario, because 1x is already commercially available. So that means we're going to use this technology or network to push the wireless data market as much as we can. We have finished a series of field tests for 1xEV-DO, and the results were much better than we had expected. We also believe that 1xEV-DO is commercially viable if we improve service capability. We are going to have 1xEV-DO and W-CDMA overlapping each other or in a series. W-CDMA is a totally new investment, so we'd like to make sure that the market is ready to accommodate the capacity of investment. Second, although W-CDMA is an interesting technology, handset availability and the availability of the network infrastructure at a very reasonable cost may affect our decision as well. How much of a gap do you expect between commercialization of 1xEV-DO and W-CDMA? It may be right if we talk about one year, but we're not in a position right now to tell you exactly how long it will take. So in the long run, customers won't necessarily need to move to W-CDMA? When we launch the W-CDMA service, we have to offer enough incentive or motivation so that our customers will move on to W-CDMA. If we cannot do that, we will not be completely successful. What will these incentives be? There are many kinds of incentives we can provide: attractive content, attractive billing schemes, attractive pricing plans, attractive community services and stylish handsets as well. What percentage of subscribers will choose to be on the 1x and W-CDMA networks? We'll be happy if we can put 70 percent on voice-oriented networks and 30 percent on more data-oriented networks. Of the 30 percent, 20 percent will be on cdma2000 1x and 10 percent will be on W-CDMA by 2004. What do you think of NTT DoCoMo saying it will concentrate its 3G services on business users? Individuals, especially the younger generation, are eager to use data-oriented services, especially for entertainment and e-commerce. Instead of focusing on just the business sector, we would like to focus on the heavy data users. No matter what kinds of jobs they have, we will be happy to provide services for them. It's costly to launch W-CDMA. NTT DoCoMo is going to invest 1 trillion yen [US$8.02 billion] to launch its services. How much will deployment cost KT Freetel? The cost will depend on what kind of coverage you would like to initiate. If you want nationwide coverage, it would require spending a lot of capital. However, since this is an advanced technology, we would like to try it out with small coverage. If we are convinced that W-CDMA can generate enough demand, then we will move on to nationwide coverage. You said Freetel will launch W-CDMA in big cities. In which cities, and in how many years? There are six large cities in Korea. The biggest is Seoul, the capital metropolitan area. So Seoul will be the first city to be covered by W-CDMA services. How quickly we expand that service will determine the amount of money we have to spend elsewhere.

To: Kent Rattey who wrote (101490)	7/10/2001 2:41:07 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 152472

Oh I-mode, Where Art Thou? By Kristi Essick - Paris Bureau Chief biz.yahoo.com Europe may have to wait for I-mode. Originally expected to launch its wildly popular mobile Web browsing service in Europe this fall, NTT DoCoMo now says it could postpone the rollout for several months. In media reports Tuesday morning, an NTT DoCoMo spokesman was quoted as saying that the company was "not yet able to say when it will launch the service" in Europe. Because a joint venture with KPN Mobile aimed at developing I-mode in Europe has not yet been established, the debut of I-mode could be later than expected, the spokesman said. KPN spokesman Marinus Potman confirmed that a joint venture between the two companies was supposed to be established in March, but that it had not yet been put in place. The joint-venture company is charged with developing an I-mode portal for Europe, he said. However, he denied that the delay in creating the joint venture would translate into a late launch of I-mode here. "The launch is still for seen by year-end," Potman said. However, he admitted "it depends if there are enough devices available." A lack of phones based on the GPRS standard - a stopgap technology in the run-up to 3G that promises faster data transfer speeds than today's GSM - has already delayed the launch of GRPS services in Europe. KPN and NTT DoCoMo will likely first launch I-mode services in Germany or the Netherlands, Potman said. In September, the companies plan to announce details about the launch. Launched in February 1999, I-mode now has more than 25 million subscribers in Japan, and NTT DoCoMo has been eager to expand to other markets. In January 2000, it paid $9.8 billion for a 16 percent stake in AT&T Wireless, and then purchased 15 percent of Dutch telco KPN Mobile in May. It also holds a 25 percent stake in Hong Kong's Hutchison Telephone and owns a 20 percent stake in U.K. 3G license holder Hutchison 3G UK Holdings, alongside KPN's 15 percent. All of these companies hold licenses for I-mode, but have not yet rolled out services. Because of the cooperation between NTT DoCoMo and KPN, the Dutch telco was to play a central role in the launch of I-mode in Europe. However, KPN may now have more pressing worries. The operator is undergoing a massive restructuring, mostly selling off non-core assets, in order to pay a debt of 23 billion euros ($19.5 billion). For its part, NTT DoCoMo is facing its own problems in Japan, where the launch of its 3G services have been plagued with problems. Already delayed by several months due to a glitch in its 3G network software, NTT DoCoMo announced Tuesday that it is recalling 100,000 advanced mobile Internet handsets due to a technical problem. The company could not be reached to comment. ========== Europe still waiting for Nokia GPRS phones. Nokia has to get those out before they can turn their attention to producing EDGE devices for AWE.

To: Kent Rattey who wrote (101490)	7/11/2001 1:51:31 AM
From: S100	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Home-grown 3G Trials Set for October China is set to launch a large-scale field trial to test its home-grown third generation (3G) technology, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), starting in October this year, industry insiders said. The trial will be based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) systems and is expected to last for about a year, Yang Yigang, vice-president of Datang Telecommunications Technology & Industry Group, told Business Weekly at the Second 3G Mobile Networks China International Summit held last week in Beijing. The forum, endorsed by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, was organized by the China Institute of Communications and the Institute for International Research (IIR). Yang said the first commercialized TD-SCDMA products are scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2002. In the second phase of TD-SCDMA product development, China will conduct a similar trial with IP networks at the end of this year. Commercial products from that trial are scheduled for release in 2003 or 2004, according to Yang. Three Chinese operators - China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Netcom - together with an undecided fourth operator, will be involved in the trial. One of the six 3G standards recognized by the International Telecommunication Union, TD-SCDMA is being jointly developed by the China Academy of Telecommunication Technology - a major shareholder of Datang Group - and Siemens of Germany. Siemens has promised to pour US$100 million in the development of TD-SCDMA, while Datang has already invested several million US dollars in the technology. Compared to the Europe-supported W-CDMA standard and the Qualcomm-backed cdma2000 technology, TD-SCDMA allows operators to build a 3G network at a comparatively low cost and to utilize 3G spectrum more efficiently, with technologies like smart antennas, joint detection and up-link synchronization. In a move to promote TD-SCMA, Datang and Chinese carriers like China Mobile and China Telecom established the TD-SCDMA Forum last year, which has now over 200 members, including Nokia, Motorola and Alcatel, as well as domestic Chinese vendors like ZTE Corp and Eastern Communications. As China's mobile communications are evolving towards 3G mobile communication with integrated voice, data and multimedia services, the public's interest in the technology has increased. However, questions remain about whether 3G can live up to its promise. Officials will select from W-CDMA, cdma2000 and TD-SCDMA proposals as the official technology to be used in the wireless market in the future. China's mobile phone customers amounted to 116 million at the end of June. Mobile communications enjoys a growth rate of 20 per cent and subscribers are expected to exceed 255 million by 2005, according to statistics from the MII indicated. Compared with the world's big mobile manufacturing, China is still weak, according to Zhang Xinsheng, deputy director-general of the science and technology department of the MII. Operation delays The delay in the commercial operation of 3G indicates that there are still some issues to be overcome. Market demand as well as business applications are not clear yet, he said. "However, the delay has provided us with opportunities to develop the 3G mobile communications industry in China. We should use the time to complete the necessary work." The delay will allow for improvements to be made by operators, manufacturers, service providers and other support industries, he said. The introduction of data services will result in further increases in traffic in the big cities and other hot spots, which will be three times higher than the present level, experts predicted. The lack of sufficient mobile frequency bandwidth has made the development of 3G technology more urgent. The traffic in big cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai has reached about 40,000 users per square kilometre, according to Wang Xiaoyun, manager of the Technology Development Division under China Mobile. New frequencies and new technologies are needed to satisfy users' demands, she said. The frequencies are also not sufficient to meet the demand for business growth. The existing frequencies used by China Mobile at present can only provide a capacity of 50,000 users per square kilometre after advanced technologies were adopted, such as frequency hopping and multi-level frequency multiplexing, according to Wang. Now China Mobile has prepared for 3G operations by actively constructing China Mobile Internet and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks. "China Mobile has focused on the development of the application services and prepared for the smooth migration towards 3G while improving the network carrying capability," she said. Trials on GPRS have been conducted in seven cities and commercial use has started in some cities. Single system testing has been successfully completed for the equipment of many vendors and compatibility testing is being completed. The network constructed in phase one project of the GPRS will be launched soon and cover 25 cities in 16 provinces. Services to be provided include WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) over GPRS, e-mail and handset banking. As voice calls will remain the most popular mobile service, at least in the early stage of 3G construction, it will not be necessary to achieve complete coverage. Island-mode coverage relying on the GSM network (dual-frequency and dual-mode terminal should also be adopted) will be the best choice, she said. China Mobile's selection of 3G wireless technology standards Main principles and considerations Technical maturity, frequency spectrum utilization rate, capacity for global roaming, and economic network construction (which includes smooth network migration), difficulties in implementing technologies, and the degree of world-wide adoption. Considerations in mobile network migration in China Smoothness in network migration; the technologies should smoothly migrate to the 3G core network on the basis of the existing network by means of equipment reform or gradual introduction of new networks Continuousness of services The evolved network should continue to support original services with new services gradually added; switching and roaming should be guaranteed Continuousness of terminals Multi-module and multi-frequency; backward compatibility; the network should not be changed frequently. english.peopledaily.com.cn Kent: As the tread resident metric wizard, is 50,000 people per square kilometer a lot? About 248 acres so about 1 person per every 215 square feet? New way to think about this, at least to me. Think my car is about 108 square feet. Wall to wall traffic one car length apart? 5 people per car all on phone? Hmm.