Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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UMTS Forum Calls for 3G Realism
October 20, 2003 - source: Ken Wieland, ITU Telecom World 2003
To maximise the 3G business case, Jean-Pierre Bienaimé, chairman of the
UMTS Forum, is appealing to regulators and governments to take a pragmatic
look at their licensing arrangements. “It’s best that [3G] operators pay
a small percentage of their revenue rather than an enormous entry ticket
fee,” he says. “And to extend the duration of the licence fee [from 15
years to 20 years] is a very wise move. It’s not realistic to ask operators
to have near-nationwide [UMTS] coverage in a short space of time.”
Bienaimé’s words may come as scant consolation to operators in Europe
who have already shelled out more than US$100 bn on 3G spectrum, but he
is encouraged by the ‘ongoing dialogue’ that is now taking place between
regulators and mobile players. “I don’t want to sound as if I am biased,
but the flexibility shown by the French regulator [Bienaimé himself hails
from France] is a good model to follow.”
After complaints by France’s 3G licence holders surrounding the high
licence fee payment structure (licences went for Euro4.95 bn each to Orange
and SFR), ART, the country’s regulator, subsequently changed the terms
of the licence to a comparatively nominal upfront cost of Euro620 m, plus
one per cent of turnover for the duration of licence (itself extended
from 15 to 20 years).
“We also believe that the process of site acquisition [for base stations]
should be simplified and that network sharing, on the UTRAN [UMTS Terrestrial
Radio Network] level, should be allowed as a way to reduce costs,” says
Bienaimé. “The joint venture between TeliaSonera and Tele2 in Sweden,
for example, has reduced network costs by 40 per cent.”
The UMTS Forum has also shared its views on 3G regulation with two key
markets yet to award their next-generation mobile licences -- India and
China. And last month, Bienaimé was in China lobbying hard for licences
based on WCDMA technology [the UMTS version of 3G, which evolves from
GSM] to be awarded sooner rather than later. “We believe that the economies
of scale that GSM has, plus its open standards and automatic international
roaming, is a fantastic opportunity for both China and India,” says Bienaimé.
“And given the strong tradition in these two countries of developing software,
there is the potential of exporting these valuable IPRs [intellectual
property rights] around the world through a global distribution network
that supports an open platform for the development of applications.”
He also stresses the compatibility of TD-SCDMA – China’s ‘homegrown’
3G standard based on TDD (time division duplexing) – with WCDMA. “[FDD,
frequency division duplexing] WCDMA could be used for nationwide coverage
and TD-SCDMA used for high-speed, ‘hot spot’ areas,” he says.
While Bienaimé accepts that the popularity of CDMA-based networks, the
main rival to GSM, has grown considerably, he feels that it still can’t
match WCDMA’s economies of scale. “There is one simple figure which speaks
for itself,” he says. “By the end of this year there will be one billion
GSM customers around the world. I think they [the Chinese authorities]
understand the benefits of having such a large export market.”
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3G Motorola A920
