Sprint outruns 3G limp

Until a couple of months ago, many cellular experts were making nirvana-like claims for third-generation (3G) mobile commun- ications that would - if true - have seen 3G having a more revolutionary effect on society than the internet.

Now, those same experts have been predicting doom and gloom, as major telcos have shelled out vast amounts on 3G licences from those governments savvy enough to cash on on the mini-boom.

The net result is that carriers with 3G licence debts on their books have seen their share price fall through the floor. And now, we hear, Vodafone in the UK has fallen out with with its major US partner, Verizon, over different 3G wireless standards.

Vodafone, in common with most European GSM carriers, remains wedded to the concept of "pure" 3G technology - leap-frogging ahead of GSM networks to offer wireless multimedia and wireless data at speeds that equal those of the 25,000-plus lucky subscribers to the BT Openworld broadband hard-wired service.

In the US, Verizon, like many US carriers, is heading down the path of CDMA2000 - an advanced version of the code division multiplex architecture cellular network system that is in widespread use across North America.

CDMA is as different from Europe's GSM TDMA (time division multiplex architecture) as VHF/FM is from medium wave/AM radio.

But, just as a single portable radio can pick up both FM and AM radio signals, so it will be possible for a 3G handset (or device) to access both pure 3G and CDMA2000 networks. Cellular users are already getting familiar with multi-band handsets supporting GSM 900 (BT Cellnet & Vodafone), GSM 1800 (Orange and One2One) and GSM 1900 (North American PCS networks).

Multi-standard will be a necessary evolution, as it is unlikely that the early 3G networks will have anything like the 98%-plus coverage that the UK cellular networks already offer.

Users will be able to enjoy 3G's advanced features when within range of a 3G network (ie in city areas), and roam on to a network supporting GSM (among many other standards) in most other places.

This multi-standard approach will also allow the mobiles of a few years hence to access satellite networks when out of range of a terrestrial network.

Such satellite access won't be as cheap as terrestrial cellular, of course, but when your vehicle has broken down in the middle of nowhere, you will be grateful. Very grateful.

In the US, Sprint PCS has committed to launching the first North American 3G network before the year is out.

This ambitious plan, which will see 3G arriving six to nine months before many experts believed possible, is thanks to forward thinking when the Sprint PCS network was designed in the mid-1990s.

"The design of our digital network, which was planned with 3G in mind, meant we only had to spend $280 million in the FCC wireless auctions for digital spectrum," explained Dan Wilinsky, a spokesperson for the carrier.

The sum (£195 million) may sound a lot, but it is peanuts compared to the billions that European carriers, such as BT, Orange and Vodafone, will have to spend on deploying their 3G networks.

The reason why Sprint PCS seems to be sitting pretty with its 3G plans is that CDMA2000 is evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, as Europe's 3G network plans are. This pragmatic approach will see Sprint PCS users having access to a relatively modest 144 kilobits per second (kbps) - 10 times the speed US cellular users already have access to - in "selected markets" across the US by the end of year.

Wilinsky says that, by the summer of 2002, his firm's network will have 144 kbps available in all US markets and, by the end of 2002, 3G users will be migrated up to 307kbps wireless data services.

"By the end of 2003, users will have access to 2.14 Megabits per second (Mbps) on a wireless basis, rising to 3.5Mbps in the years after that."

This open approach contrasts with the MI6-style cloak of secrecy surrounding mobile networks' plans for 3G on this side of the Atlantic.

Once again, our American cousins have taken Europe's technology, tweaked it, and turned it to a real-world service for real people.

But all is not lost for Europe's 3G wannabes, as it is almost certain that they will be forced - either by economic factors or EU mandate - to sublet their 3G networks to third party carriers.

This isn't as strange as it sounds, as Virgin Mobile already rents airtime on the One2One network in the UK, and other virtual network operators are popping up on networks around the world.

Which network a handset uses is largely irrelevant to Joe Public. All s/he will be concerned about is whether his/her whizzy new handset will make and receive calls across the length and breadth of the UK, and elsewhere in the world when on holiday or business travel.

And it will - whether they are accessing via a regular 3G cellular service or an apparently electrified piece of damp string in Timbuktu.