TDMA operators get go-ahead for 3G deployment

date: 29th December 2000, source: SCMP

The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC) has given the go-ahead to operators of existing time division multiple access (TDMA) cellular networks to consider multiple third-generation (3G) technology deployment options.

This development was officially endorsed at last week's UWCC board of governors meeting, where the 3G standard known as both universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) will now be an additional 3G option for TDMA operators acquiring new spectrum.

"The UWCC board member-companies have a high degree of confidence in the near-term growth of TDMA and its multiple implementation options for providing 3G services worldwide," said Umesh Amin, UWCC chairman.

He pointed out that the endorsement was consistent with the UWCC's goal of "global seamless voice and data communications".

UMTS, commonly referred to as WCDMA, is a 3G radio interface technology that is expected to be used in many regions around the world to provide high-speed wireless data services. The technology is optimised for wideband radio access to support 3G high-speed multimedia services, such as video, Internet and video conferencing. The world's first WCDMA-based 3G network from Japan's NTT DoCoMo will begin commercial operations in May 2001.

TDMA is a technology used in digital cellular phone communications to divide each cellular channel into three time slots to increase the amount of data that can be carried. It is the most widely used wireless communications technology in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. To date, the number of TDMA subscribers worldwide is over 58 million.

Although Asian operators' technology is mostly based on the European global system for mobile communications (GSM) wireless standard, there are cellular networks in the region that were built on the United States-developed TDMA technology. In Hong Kong, for example, Pacific Century CyberWorks-HKT runs a TDMA network, which it acquired from Pacific Link.

The Bellevue, Washington-based UWCC is a non-profit industry group that represents more than 100 global companies supporting TDMA-enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE) wireless technology standards. Its members include Alcatel, AT&T Wireless, BellSouth, Cable & Wireless, Compaq Computer, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nokia and Nortel Networks.

Following its endorsement of UMTS as an additional 3G technology option for TDMA operators, the UWCC board also unanimously voiced their continuing commitment to the development and deployment of TDMA-EDGE wireless technologies.

Sheila Mickool, the UWCC's president and chief executive, said that TDMA "remains the number one technology in the Western Hemisphere and has expanded its subscriber base at a 78 per cent growth rate during the past 12 months". She added that EDGE "continues to gain momentum as a spectrally efficient and cost-effective solution for providing 3G services to the mass market".

EDGE is an enhanced radio modulation technique for both TDMA and GSM systems. As a 3G radio interface technology, EDGE supports data and multimedia services and applications to be incorporated into the existing spectrum of 800, 900, 1800 and 1900 megahertz bands. It supports data rates up to an average of 384 kilobits per second (Kbps) and peak rates up to 490 Kbps in wide-area coverage.

Initial deployments of EDGE systems are expected to begin in a number of markets from the fourth quarter of 2001, with large-scale deployments expected in 2002.

According to the UWCC, the endorsement of UMTS/WCDMA, which hails from the existing GSM cellular standard, for TDMA operators builds upon the consortium's current programmes of interoperability and convergence with the GSM community.

The industry consortium expects the UMTS/WCDMA standard to complement the EDGE technology deployments for both TDMA and GSM operators. Both EDGE and UMTS/WCDMA are supposed to be built on the same core network.

"The convergence of TDMA and GSM 3G data strategies could provide global wireless Internet services to over 450 million subscribers worldwide," Ms Mickool said.

Commenting on the UWCC's multiple 3G option for TDMA operators, Nortel Networks' chief technology officer for wireless Internet Hermon Pon said: "The evolutionary path for TDMA remains focused on interoperability and convergence with GSM, based on current global market dynamics and developments."

According to the UWCC, the combination of TDMA-EDGE and UMTS/WCDMA is supposed to ensure "a future-proof competitive service capability, highest network coverage and capacity, lowest rollout costs and widest roaming capabilities".

EDGE is supposed to provide lower cost capacity delivery for voice and medium bit-rate data services, as UMTS/WCDMA is expected to provide lower cost capacity for data-intensive applications and higher theoretical maximum bit rates per subscriber. Additionally, EDGE can be deployed in existing spectrum, starting at the end of 2001, and these deployments can be complimented by UMTS.

The UWCC noted that it expected some large TDMA network operators to deploy both EDGE and UMTS systems since both share the same core network.

Compared with UMTS/WCDMA deployment, TDMA-EDGE is supposed to be ready for implementation in the existing frequency spectrum and, thus, requires no additional spectrum investment to enable operators to offer a wide range of new revenue-generating services.

"TDMA-EDGE has a future here in Asia, particularly in China," said Clive Woodlock, UWCC regional director for the Asia-Pacific region, in a recent interview.

"The technology meets China's objective of maximising the use of available spectrum to offer 3G services. Based on our recent discussions with a number of operators, TDMA-EDGE provides an affordable means to introduce 3G high-speed wireless data and Internet access technology in the future since operators can use their existing spectrum."

He said that the mainland's Ministry of Information Industry was looking at ways to commercialise the country's existing TDMA networks, which had been in the hands of the military for years.

"Deployment of EDGE presents China, the world's largest GSM operator, with a graceful means of introducing 3G services in the near future, and at an affordable cost," he added.

The interoperability between GSM and TDMA via EDGE is also supposed to give the mainland's cellular operators the opportunity to generate revenue from the increasing number of TDMA subscribers travelling to China and from seamless roaming services for the mainland's 60 million-plus GSM subscribers travelling in TDMA service areas throughout the world.

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