War: WiMAx and 3G - LTE

This year's WiMAX World Europe Conference & Expo will feature the Great Debate: WiMAX vs. LTE. The debate will be open to all conference and expo attendees and is scheduled for Thursday, May 31 at noon. The event will discuss the future of mobile WiMAX and competing technologies in Europe.

Mobile WiMAX will not succeed in the European market unless its proponents achieve greater clarity in defining and targeting the true addressable market for the technology. Mobile WiMAX has much promise for both mobile and fixed operators, but has only begun to deliver. The mobile community, led by 3GSM, has responded to WiMAX by developing 3G-LTE which offers a migration path from 3G to an OFDMA based technology and similar network topology to that associated with mobile WiMAX. With competing technologies emerging in the marketplace, service providers are faced with the challenge of choosing between WiMAX or 3G-LTE technologies.

• The Great Debate: WiMAX vs. LTE will feature participation from:
• Barry West, CTO and President of 4G Mobile Broadband, Sprint Nextel
• Dr. Mo Shakouri, VP Marketing, WiMAX Forum / WiMAX Forum Board Member
• Ivano Costa, Innovation Technologies, Telecom Italia SpA
• Lars Johnsson, VP of Business Development, Beceem Communications
• The Great Debate is part of a comprehensive three day conference program at WiMAX
• World Europe, which includes a four track program containing over 90+ industry leaders and key network operators.
  
• WiMAX World Europe will feature:
• Barry West, CTO and President of 4G Mobile Broadband, Sprint Nextel
• Scott Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer, Clearwire
• Neil Parkinson, CEO, Irish Broadband
• Gerard Macnamee, CTO, UK Broadband
• Fabrice Ballart, General Director - Altitude Telecom
• Peter Ziegewanger, CTO, WiMAX Telecom
• Georg Maunz, Head of Network Engineering, WiMAX Telcom
• Christian Haspl, Commercial Development Manager for Messaging & DVB-H, 3 Austria
• Tariq Qureshi, Executive Vice President Commercial (P&S), Pakistan Telecommunications Ltd.
• Ivano Costa, Innovation Technologies, Telecom Italia SpA
• Jeanine van der Vlist, CEO, WorldMAX BV
• Dov Bar Gera, CEO, WiMAX Telecom
• Krassimir Stoitcheff, CEO, MAX Telecom
• Milan Kovacevic, Executive Manager, SAGA, Serbia
• Tomasz Mrowiec, General Manager, SferaNet
• Rafi Haladjian, CEO and Founder, Ozone
• Niall Murphy, CTO, The Cloud
• Taher Bouzayan, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Tunisiana, Orascom Telecom Tunisiana
• Ahmed Ebraheem, Managing Director, Arab Telecom
• Rizwan Tiwana, Deputy General Manager, Planning & Design Engineering, Wateen Telecom
• Luis Miguel Garcia, CEO, Iberbanda

Nokia's sensuous new 3G enabled flip phone

Nokia today announced a new 3G mobile phone that pairs original design and quality workmanship with outstanding features. The Nokia 6555 meets the desire for aesthetic appeal with an external analog clock echoing the timeless elegance of high-end luxury. The Nokia 6555 is the first WCDMA phone with a smooth-back fold design with recessed hinge creating a seamless line when open. The phone's gentle curve ensures a smooth and ergonomic user experience. The Nokia 6555 is an accessible option for discerning consumers.

Adding to its attraction, the Nokia 6555 features a QVGA 16 million color internal display - twice as many colors as the human eye can see - for a brilliant, crisp resolution on a large 240x320 screen, making it perfect for viewing photos and videos. The camera featuring a 6x zoom gives even greater versatility and full screen portrait viewfinder so you can be sure you get the right picture every time. The self-portrait function on the camera and video sharing ability ensures that special moments are easily shared with family and friends. "Mobile-savvy consumers expect superior quality and design. We understood that need, and so created the the Nokia 6555. The Nokia 6555 is a sophisticated accessory delivering the outstanding features that you expect from Nokia," said Markku Suomi, Product Group Director, Mobile Phones, Nokia.

From the thin, narrow form factor with smooth lines to the 30MB user memory (with capacity for microSD expandable memory) and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, the Nokia 6555 sets the standard in its class.

The handset is planned to hit the shelves Sep 07 at an estimated retail price of 200 EUR in at least four different color combos.

Source: http://www.lowyat.net/v2/latest/nokias-sensuous-new-3g-enabled-flip-phone-2.html

Growing Industry Acceptance of Fixed & Mobile 4G

Pioneer Consulting's new report, The Impact of 3G & 4G Wireless Technology on Carriers' Network Development Strategies, concludes that WiMAX will have a significant role to play in the evolution of mobile networks. A survey of manufacturers and network operators indicates that they are making plans to incorporate 4G technology as a value-adding adjunct to existing mobile infrastructure and services.

"WiMAX has received a lot of negative publicity recently," says Julian Rawle, Managing Partner, "but when you look beyond the hype and anti-hype, there is a viable business case for the fixed standard and maybe also for the mobile standard."

Instead of characterizing the evolution of 3G and 4G mobile technologies as a battle to the death between species, the report highlights the potential for complementarity between the various technologies which reside under the 3G and 4G "umbrellas". Pioneer's Managing Partner, Howard Kidorf, commented, "In modeling scenarios for 4G development, we found that accelerated growth in demand for 4G stimulates interest in broadband wireless applications which also has a beneficial impact on demand for 3G."

Nevertheless, Pioneer acknowledges that the future of 4G technology is by no means certain. More investment in R&D is required, the issue of global spectrum harmonization is unresolved, and equipment certification has only recently begun.

Pioneer's report segments the potential WiMAX market into "fixed wireless backhaul" and "mobile". It provides forecasts to 2010 of subscriber numbers, penetration rates, and base station installations across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific for 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile technologies. The value of WiMAX equipment in the backhaul market is forecast and an innovative approach is used to forecast mobile demand in terms of bandwidth usage.

The conclusion from these forecasts is that WiMAX will establish market share over the next few years at a significant growth rate but will not become the dominant mobile technology any time soon.

(Source: http://www.4g.co.uk/PR2006/2058.htm)

New Delhi - I am really coming this time!

New Delhi - The country will have third-generation (3G) mobile phone services by the middle of next year, Communications Minister A Raja said on Thursday, signalling the government's keenness to release spectrum for services mired in a regulatory tug-of-war.

Current 2G services are in themselves in the grip of a corporate war over scarce spectrum needed for expansion, while 3G will need another band of spectrum on which data will travel at high speeds to enable advanced services such as video downloads, live TV and stock trading."We are hopeful that some spectrum for both 2G (second generation) and 3G services will be vacated by the end of this year.

I hope that would pave the way for a rollout of 3G services by mid next year," the minister told an industry forum on 3G services in the capital.Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended a policy on 3G mobile technologies in September 2006. Its chairman Nripendra Misra, also speaking to the forum, said it was high time that a clear policy was announced by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

"I had announced recommendations for 3G in 2006, and a policy should be announced soon. I think it is already delayed," the regulator said.But he indicated that launching services may take longer.He said if a policy was announced now, the process of inviting bids for the auction of spectrum to allocate spectrum will take more than a year, provided it is not stalled by litigation in court."After auction it will take 6 to 8 months in deployment," Misra said.

He said that India is yet to formalise the bandwidth on which the technology would be run. The regulator also said that the manufacturing sector will have to keep the equipment ready.

(Source: Hindustan Time. 25 OCt 2007)

Brazilian government to publish 3G bidding soon...

Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel expects to publish bidding rules for an auction of 3G spectrum later this month, local press quoted the watchdog's president Ronaldo Sardenberg as saying.
Anatel published proposals for the bidding rules earlier this year and in mid-August started studying feedback from sector players. Anatel's private services director Jarbas Valente hinted on September 26 the regulator's licensing team was very close to delivering a draft of the 3G bidding rules to the watchdog board.

Due to board members' schedules there will not be a full meeting until October 9 and the problem is that any board member can ask for a revision of the document, which would take an extra week, according to Sardenberg.

Some operators have said they aim to launch 3G services over existing spectrum and are likely to do so before Anatel auctions the official 3G spectrum, in the 1900MHz and 2100MHz bands.
These operators include Telemig and América Móvil, which plan to launch the service over the 850MHz spectrum that they already have.

Claro's 850MHz system is ready and just needs to interconnect with other networks, but the firm needs to know 3G operating rules spelled out in the 1900MHz and 2100MHz bidding rules before it can launch, Claro president Joao Cox was quoted as saying this week. Telemig's 3G network has been ready since August.

In fact, local papers are convinced that Anatel is under pressure from other operators - Vivo , TIM Brasil and Brasil Telecom - to prevent Telemig and Claro from launching 3G.

According to Telemig president André Mastrobuono, Anatel has yet to authorize activation of the transmission towers, despite having approved other equipment and operating licenses. Anatel has not given a clear explanation, merely citing "regulatory doubts."

(Source: http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/2007/oct/news_7751.shtml)

Congrat! PCCW has been awarded the country’s fifth 3G license

Hong Kong’s PCCW has been awarded the country’s fifth 3G license.

According to OFTA, the Hong Kong regulator, the fixed-line incumbent emerged as the only bidder for the license to provide mobile services based on CDMA2000 technology.

PCCW will now have to pay a “spectrum utilization fee” of HK$76 million (US$9.8 million) to the Hong Kong government, as well as a so-called “performance bond” of HK$150 million ($19.3 million) to OFTA, before 27 November.

It will not be allowed to launch services before 20 Nov. 2008, although it is entitled to begin work on its network immediately.

OFTA says the license will allow “visitors to and residents of Hong Kong to enjoy advanced CDMA mobile services, including CDMA roaming.”

In awarding a license based on the CDMA standard, OFTA hopes to preserve links between mainland China and Hong Kong.

On the mainland, almost 40 million people are CDMA customers of China Unicom. At present they can use the 2G CDMA service provided by Hutchison when travelling to Hong Kong, but Hutchison’s license is set to expire in Nov. 2008.

The 850MHz spectrum currently used by Hutchison will be reallocated to PCCW when that happens.

Analysts had expected China Unicom to bid for the Hong Kong CDMA2000 license, but the operator reportedly ruled itself out after failing to reach a commercial agreement with a local partner.

CDMA roaming attraction
PCCW must reckon new revenues from CDMA roaming will outweigh the costs of launching a new network.

The operator already runs a 3G business based on the W- CDMA standard through its mobile subsidiary Sunday, which had signed up 130,000 3G customers by the end of June.

Sunday remains the smallest of Hong Kong’s four W-CDMA operators, with Hutchison, CSL and SmarTone catering for the rest of the island’s 1.67 million 3G customers.

With mobile penetration in Hong Kong topping 130 percent, those operators are slashing prices and bundling new services in an effort to attract mobile customers to pricier 3G packages.

CDMA2000 is unlikely to give PCCW any advantage in this environment. Most analysts say W-CDMA has emerged as the dominant 3G standard worldwide, giving it an economies-of- scale advantage over CDMA2000.

And after recent advances in HSPA, W-CDMA appears to have caught up with CDMA2000 on bandwidth performance.

Prepared by Iain Morris

Congrat! PCCW has been awarded the country’s fifth 3G license

Hong Kong’s PCCW has been awarded the country’s fifth 3G license.

According to OFTA, the Hong Kong regulator, the fixed-line incumbent emerged as the only bidder for the license to provide mobile services based on CDMA2000 technology.

PCCW will now have to pay a “spectrum utilization fee” of HK$76 million (US$9.8 million) to the Hong Kong government, as well as a so-called “performance bond” of HK$150 million ($19.3 million) to OFTA, before 27 November.

It will not be allowed to launch services before 20 Nov. 2008, although it is entitled to begin work on its network immediately.

OFTA says the license will allow “visitors to and residents of Hong Kong to enjoy advanced CDMA mobile services, including CDMA roaming.”

In awarding a license based on the CDMA standard, OFTA hopes to preserve links between mainland China and Hong Kong.

On the mainland, almost 40 million people are CDMA customers of China Unicom. At present they can use the 2G CDMA service provided by Hutchison when travelling to Hong Kong, but Hutchison’s license is set to expire in Nov. 2008.

The 850MHz spectrum currently used by Hutchison will be reallocated to PCCW when that happens.

Analysts had expected China Unicom to bid for the Hong Kong CDMA2000 license, but the operator reportedly ruled itself out after failing to reach a commercial agreement with a local partner.

CDMA roaming attraction
PCCW must reckon new revenues from CDMA roaming will outweigh the costs of launching a new network.

The operator already runs a 3G business based on the W- CDMA standard through its mobile subsidiary Sunday, which had signed up 130,000 3G customers by the end of June.

Sunday remains the smallest of Hong Kong’s four W-CDMA operators, with Hutchison, CSL and SmarTone catering for the rest of the island’s 1.67 million 3G customers.

With mobile penetration in Hong Kong topping 130 percent, those operators are slashing prices and bundling new services in an effort to attract mobile customers to pricier 3G packages.

CDMA2000 is unlikely to give PCCW any advantage in this environment. Most analysts say W-CDMA has emerged as the dominant 3G standard worldwide, giving it an economies-of- scale advantage over CDMA2000.

And after recent advances in HSPA, W-CDMA appears to have caught up with CDMA2000 on bandwidth performance.