Network trials aim to prove 3G's worth

With the ongoing battle over third-generation (3G) mobile standards apparently deadlocked, Nortel Networks and Panasonic said they will launch a series of network trials to ensure user demand for future high-speed data services.

Brampton, Canada-based Nortel estimates network operators could have to pay as much as $60 billion worldwide to upgrade their networks for 3G compliance.

Nortel is a key developer of the proposed 3G technology favored by European manufacturers, wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA): Panasonic, the brand of Secaucus, New Jersey-based Matsushita Electric Corp., is manufacturing prototype handsets. The two companies see the trials as offering vital encouragement to operators, service providers and end-users that 3G can deliver a range of, as yet unthought of, applications.

"The whole focus of our trials is to demonstrate what you can do with [3G] that you can't do with second generation," said Ian Sugarbroad, vice president at Nortel Wireless Networks. "The question is, how do [network operators] make a business case" given that users are still unsure about why they might need high-speed mobile services.

Whereas second-generation mobile service providers compete almost exclusively on price, said Sugarbroad, 3G providers will distinguish themselves with carefully targeted value-added services.

The trials with as yet unnamed operators will start later this year, with one in each of North America, Europe and Asia testing a range of applications in areas such as Internet access, specialist messaging services and mobile multimedia.

Meanwhile, the development of a single global technical standard for 3G appears to have reached a stalemate, with the major vendors divided into two camps behind different air interface proposals. North American, Republic of Korean and Australian players, led by Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego, California, back cdma2000, while mainly European and Japanese supporters of W-CDMA are pressing for the International Telecommunication Union to adopt their favored air interface.

The differences between the proposals lie in the technical details rather than functionality. The key issue is whether the final standard will be backwards-compatible with existing digital mobile networks.

Qualcomm claims its original work on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) underpins the W-CDMA proposal, and declared it will withhold crucial Intellectual Properly Rights from the W-CDMA camp unless the final global standard incorporates backwards compatibility with existing networks based on the second-generation technology. In response, L.M. Ericsson AB, a major force behind W-CDMA, maintains it holds essential IPRs that it could withhold from the cdrna2000 alliance.

Nortel, which is also aligned with the W-CDMA camp, believes that "the two [proposed standards] could come a hell of a lot closer," said Sugarbroad. "We could restrict all the differences to software and avoid 90% of the cost to network operators,' he claimed.

Nortel's trials will use a 'best guess" at the final standard, based on the current W-CDMA proposal supported by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as part of its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) submission to the ITU.

Nortel believes 3G will create a new breed of service provider that will develop services for specific markets such as the medical, legal, financial and real estate sectors.

Meanwhile, users are bemused by the ongoing dispute, and still need convincing that 3G will provide valuable services. Users want to "get rid of the politics," said Bill Mieran, chairman of the Leatherhead, England-based Telecommunications Users Association. "I don't think it's a technical issue any more. Users want service, price and quality, and they don't worry about how it's achieved," he said,

They need to expect that they will get something better when switching to 3G, just as 2G digital offered advantages over analog, added Mieran.

COPYRIGHT 1998 EMAP Media Ltd.
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