Daily Independent (Lagos)
Aaron Ukodie
14 October 2008
Global GSM operators under their umbrella body, the GSM Association (GSMA), have strongly backed High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) as the best technology platform to deliver speedier and wider mobile broadband services across both urban and rural networks.
They put the technology ahead of other existing platforms such as WiMax and EV-DO currently in use by fixed wireless operators in Nigeria.
The GSMA define mobile broadband technologies as those that deliver typical end-user downlink data rates of 500 kbps or more while providing full mobility. Mobile broadband rivals the experience of wired broadband technologies, such as ADSL.
It enables suitable user experiences for a broad range of data applications - including email with attachments, web browsing, multimedia streaming and file downloads - while stationary or on the go. This end user experience baseline has also become important for PC notebook manufacturers who decided to embed mobile data into their products only once it could deliver a broadband experience. Previous 2G and 2.5G solutions were simply not fast or efficient enough.
They put up robust arguments at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, last week to state that the technology's advantages outpace other existing platforms in the market.
They are supported by leading systems suppliers such as Ericsson and Qualcom. Nigerian operators that have endorsed the technology include Etisalat and MTN.
Mobile broadband services based on several technologies have already been launched by 145 operators in 68 countries/territories, covering more than one billion people worldwide.
At least another 113 operator networks are currently in deployment. To date, more than 475 devices have been launched or announced for these services. These devices include feature phones, smartphones, PDA's, PC
Cards and Express Cards, USB 'thumb' drives embedded notebooks and even desktop modems. Embedded notebook solutions alone number more than 91 models from 14 manufacturers, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba.
But according to an April 2008 statistics made available by the GSMA there are 167 HSPA networks globally in 73 countries with 102 of the networks having a speed rate of 3.6 Mpbs and faster, while 29 of them have enhanced uplink HSUPA.
There are 481 HSPA devices from 98 suppliers made up of 222 handsets 38 data cards 85 notebooks 29 wireless routers, 38 USB modules and 27 embedded module.
EV-DO, the upgrade path for the majority of CDMA2000 operators which supports downlink peak rates up to 2.4 Mbps, typical end user rates of 400 - 700 kbps and approximately 3 times the data capacity of CDMA2000 1X is currently embraced by 52 operators and another 57 operators are currently planning to deploy it. SK Telecom and
KTF in Korea launched the first EV-DO services in January and August of 2002, respectively according to the CDMA Development Group (CDG). A reported 395 EV-DO devices have been launched, according to the CDG and more than 50 EV-DO embedded notebooks have been announced.
In Nigeria operators such as Starcomms lead a pack that has deployed EV-DO.
Currently, HSPA is marketed as a mobile broadband service, in direct competition with fixed-line and wireless broadband. It currently has the advantage of being faster, cheaper and easier to deploy than either ADSL or wireless services, proving that mobile broadband can be the main Internet connection for business and consumer.
AT&T of the United States is the first to launch HSPA leads the market in that area.
In 2005, AT&T launched the world's first large scale HSPA service as an evolution of its existing data service EDGE. By 2006, HSPA services were made available in 165 major metropolitan areas including most of the top 100 largest cities in the US.
Ideally suited for business customers, the HSPA service offered dual-mode HSPA / EDGE data cards that plugged directly into laptops and latterly embedded solutions. Users have access to super fast, unlimited connectivity anywhere to surf the Internet, send emails, download presentations and generally keep in touch with company business.
MTN has deployed an HSPA network in Alexandria, one of South African oldest and poorest communities which enable the community to have access to fast, reliable Internet access from an innovative Internet cafÈ concept, unique to the South African environment.
MTN South Africa founded a community payphone kiosk, which offers the very poor community access to voice telephony services, and for the first time, cheap access to the Internet. The kiosk belongs to local entrepreneur.
With the joint support of MTN SA, and the GSM Association's Development Fund, the Alexandra community now experience the Internet.
One of the first operators anywhere in the world to launch 3G, in December 2003, Etisalat was also in the leading group to upgrade its entire 3G network to HSPA in 2005.
The "3.5G" network, as Etisalat brands it, reaches the vast majority of the population. Every large town, city and major road has coverage in United Arab Emirate country, which is made up of vast tracts of desert.
Users enjoy browsing the internet at peak download rates of 7.2 Mbps with the HSPA network, and can upload photos to Flickr or videos to YouTube at 1.9 Mbps.
"What has attracted users to our mobile broadband services is not just the sheer speed of the network or attractiveness of the handsets, but also the quality of the value-added services," says Khalifa Alforah, vice president of marketing for consumers and SMEs, Etisalat
But the position of GSMA and its proponents contrasts arguments put forward by WiMaX loyalists who argue that the 802.16e version of WiMAX is a superior platform for operators who are looking towards data services to contribute an increasing portion of ARPU and open new revenue opportunities.
WiMAX and other platforms had no supporters in Abuja, as HSPA backers insisted that while confusion and hype abound concerning the real merits of WiMAX in the mobile environment, one key point receives less attention: true mobile broadband services are already here today.
HSPA supporters argued that though WiMAX has made significant progress over the past year in building a comprehensive "ecosystem" of supply, it has not however been able to establish the depth and breadth of the HSDPA equivalent.
The WiMAX Forum has reported more than 250 trials to date, however the majority of them seem to have been either proprietary 'pre-WiMAX' or fixed WiMAX (802.16-2004).
While WiMAX is the most hyped wireless technology over the last few years, just a few mobile operators have committed to launching mobile WiMAX, the most notable one being Sprint Nextel, using its 2.5 GHz spectrum.
WiMAX certification profiles specify characteristics including spectrum band, duplexing, and channelisation.
Several profiles exist for fixed and mobile WiMAX. All WiMAX-certified products to date (just 28 as of October 2006) are for fixed WiMAX in the 3.5-GHz band. Vendors are waiting for mobile WiMAX certification to begin, starting in Q1 2007 for Wave I (WiBro / 2.3 GHz) and Q3 2007 for Wave II (2.5 GHz). Sprint Nextel plans to launch its services based on mobile WiMAX in late 2007 or early 2008.
Because of low WiMAX volumes and the limited choice of devices, the prices of WiMAX handsets will remain significantly higher than those of other, much higher volume, cellular terminals, which are being developed and offered in increasingly lower cost versions.
In fact, WiMAX is in the difficult position of having to prove its business case in advance of proven performance. This is due to two key factors:
ttractively priced notebooks and PDAs with WiMAX-embedded capability, coupled with acceptable power consumption, will not appear in quantity until 2008, with handsets arriving in 2009 or later.
iMAX lacks the economies of scale that benefits HSPA.
There are a host of technologies enabling commercial mobile broadband services today. The two responsible or enabling the wide majority of these services at present are HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and EVDO Evolution, Data Optimized).
Other commercial technologies such as FLASH-OFDM (Orthogonal frequency Division Multiplexing), UMTS TDD (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Time Division Duplex) and iBurst have had commercial traction in certain markets and applications, and may continue to ain operator customers.
These mobile broadband technologies also support a number of fixed and portable services, but the true prize in market potential is mobility.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, there will be 518 million mobile broadband users worldwide by 2010; the competitors to HSPA and EV-DO will account for only 30 million of those.
Other mobile broadband technologies competing in the market include FLASH-OFDM
UMTS TDD championed by IPWireless, iBurst developed by Arraycom and Ultra Mobile Broadband, previously known as EV-DO Rev. C, (UMB) which incorporates OFDMA and MIMO techniques.
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