Trends of Wireless Mobile Communications—Broadbandization and Mobilization

Cao Shunmin

The puzzIing picture of the issue of 3G Iicenses in China that wou Id affect severaIhundred biIIions of investment becomes c Iearer.It is possib Ie that the Chinese government wiIIissue 3G Iicenses in 2006.Therefore,at the beginning of this year,we have the honor of inviting Ms.Cao Shumin,a weII-known mobiIe communications expert in China and Vice President of China Academy of TeIecommunication Research,to give a speciaIcontribution on the deveIopment trends of wireIess mobiIe communications.

This artic Ie points out that the hot topics in the wireIess mobiIe communications fieId in 2005 inc Iuded HSDPA,1x EV-DO ReIease A,WiMAX,E3G and B3G.In addition,the artic Ie shows that the trends of mobiIe broadbandization and broadband mobiIization are more obvious with the quickening of commerciaIization and standardization of these techno Iogies.Moreover,technoIogy deveIopment becomes more rapid and technicaIcompetition more severe in the wireIess communications fieId.The deveIopment of wireIess communications shows a tendency of graduaIconvergence of networks,integrated app Iications of muItip Ie access techno Iogies,and unceasing Iaunch of new services.

The artic Ie thinks that 3G and WiMAX are comp Iementary technoIogies.As for China,3G shou Id be first commerciaIized,and then mobiIe WiMAX.

1 Obvious Trends of Mobile Broadbandization and Broadband Mobilization

T he emerging of 802.16/WiMAXtechnology at the beginning of 2004 started a new turn of the technology competition in the wireless communications field.This has fastened the evolution of cellular mobile communications technologies.The 3GPPand 3GPP2 initiated their studies on the standardization of E3G respectively at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005.On one hand,the Long Term Evolution(LTE)plan initiated by 3GPPproposed that the E3G technology would implement the rates of 100 Mb/s in the downlink and 50 Mb/s in the uplink,have 2-4 times more spectrum efficiency than Version R6 and better support IPtransmission services with lower cost.The 3GPPis going to complete the study of major parameters in 2006 and E3G standardization in June 2007.On the other hand,3GPP2 has launched its Air Interface Evolution(AIE)plan.The plan is divided into two phases.The multi-carrier CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology is adopted in the first phase,with a maximum of 15 carriers and supporting data rates of 46.5 Mb/s in the downlink and 27 Mb/s in the uplink.The enhanced radio interface used in the second phase may support data rates of 100 Mb/s-1Gb/s in the downlink and 50 Mb/s-100 Mb/s in the uplink.The first phase will be released at the beginning of 2006,while the second phase will be finished in April 2007.

The emerging and promotion of WiMAX,and the initiation and fastening of E3G have brought obvious trends of broadbandization and mobilization in the wirleless mobile communications.That is,broadband wireless access trends to have more mobility,while mobile communications towards broadbandization.Figure1 illustrates the trends of wireless mobile communications.

The standardization of WiMAXand the promotion of its products made great progress in 2005.First,two interworking tests of fixed WiMAX were made in China respectively in June and November of 2005.The number of equipment vendors participating in the second test was added from 4 in the first test into 10,although the interval between the two tests was only 5 months.ZTEand Huawei,two Chinese vendors,took part in the second test sponsored by China Academy of Telecommunication Research in November.The two tests play an important role in maturing fixed WiMAXproducts.It is primarily estimated that fixed WiMAXmay gradually go in commercial use in China by 2006-2007.Meanwhile,the standardization for mobile WiMAXmade great progress in 2005.The IEEE 802.16 working group fulfilled the standardization of physical and MAC layers.In addition,the WiMAXforum has initiated the work for standardization of the upper-layer protocols and wireless access network that had kept unclear.It is expected to implement commercialization of mobile WiMAXaround 2008.

In most instances,in 2005,the study on WiMAX made substantial progress and the standardization work of evolution technologies for 3G was accelerated.

2 Complementary Broadband Wireless Access and Broadband Mobile Communications Technologies

The relationship between broadband wireless access and broadband mobile communications technologies can be seen clearer through the comparison of 3G and its evolution technology with WiMAX:

(1)Coverage and Mobility Based on 2G,3G and its evolution technology will keep ubiquitous coverage and meet requirements of various mobile environments.However,WiMAXprovides regional hotpot coverage and roaming mobility in some time.

(2)Services

3G and its evolution technology support voice,as well as diversified data services.The data rates supported will be gradually raised.However,WiMAX mainly offers data services,and gradually implements VoIPservices.

(3)Standardization 3G and its evolution technology have strong standardization,but their standards are complicated with complex implementation of technology.Comparatively,the standardization of WiMAXis weak,but the implementation

3G and its evolution technology are complementary to WiMAX in network coverage,mobility,services,frequency,market positioning,and more.of network is simple.

▲Figure 1. Development trends of wireless mobile communications.

(4)Terminals

Most terminals that 3G and its evolution technology support are handheld,but more types of 3G terminals that are applicable to computers including the lap-top are emerging.Comparatively,lap-tops are the main terminal WiMAX supports,and handheld terminals for WiMAX system are expected in the future.

(5)Frequency

3G and its evolution technology use the globally coordinated and defined 3G core and extended frequency bands.However,there are no globally coordinated usable frequency bands for WiMAX.Its usable frequency bands are under study and coordination.

▲Figure 2. An estimated timetable of commercial use of 3G and its evolution technologies as well as mobile WiMAX.

(6)Maturity of Equipment networks,as regional coverage of the mobile networks,to bear the services with large data traffic,lighten the burden of the mobile networks,and decrease cost.It may also work as wireless extension of broadband access services of fixed networks,or provide roaming data access services.

The covergence of fixed and mobile networks,and the covergence of communications,computer,broadcasting and TV,and sensor networks become great development trends

Accordingly,it is obvious that these two technologies are complementary.It is rational for China to commercialize 3G first and then gradually consider mobile WiMAX,no matter from the view of technical development or from the characteristics of these technologies.

The implementation of 3G technologies has its large-scale commercial use worldwide,and the enhanced 3G technologies,such as HSDPA and CDMA2000 1x EV-DO,will enter in commercial use by 2006-2007.However,the commercialization of WiMAXneeds about 3 more years.Figure 2 shows the timetable of commercial use of 3G and its evolution technology and mobile WiMAX,as well as their data service capabilities.Seen from Figure 2,mobile WiMAXis between HSDPA/1x EV-DO Release Aand E3G.

(7)Market Positioning

3G and its evolution technology offer services mainly in the areas covered by mobile communications networks,while WiMAX,as a specific broadband wireless access technology,is flexible for various application places.For example,WiMAXsystem may access mobile

3 Be Ripe for Network Convergence, Service Convergence and Access Integration

With the rapid development of mobile communications and Internet,and according to the trends of fixed and mobile broadbandization,the communications networks and services are experiencing revolutionary changes.On one hand,the mainstream of services will change from the conventional voice services to integrated information service.On the other hand,communications willbe extended from between humans to between humans and things,and between things.Communications will penetrate into every aspect of daily life.

Following the development trends of technology,relative industries will gradually merge,using a series of new technologies,new services,and new applications to meet market demands.Figure 3 shows the future network that has implemented network convergence,service convergence,and access integration.The convergence is all-round and at multiple layers,including convergence of network,services,and terminals.The convergence of fixed and mobile networks and the convergence of communications,computer,broadcasting and TV,and sensor networks especially become great development trends.Moreover,conditions in technology,market demands,and equipment for the convergence are maturing.

The inevitable way to reach the aforementioned objective of convergence is to simultaneously use multiple wireless access technologies and fixed access technologies.These include cellular mobile communications technologies(WAN),broadband wireless access technologies(MAN),and short-distance wireless technologies(such as RFID,UWBand bluetooth).These access networks,together with fixed broadband networks,are connected to the same IP-based core network platform,and ubiquitous best services may be implemented through seamless handover of the networks.

▲Figure 3. A converged network supporting integrated services and multiple access.

Manuscriptreceived:2005-12-26

TeIePassport to DepIoy ZTE's TripIe-pIay Services in Greece

TelePassport Hellas，one of the largest Telecommunication alternative providers in Greece，has announced a collaboration with ZTECorporation for the deployment and promotion of triple play voice,video and data services in the Greek market.

ZTEwill provide TelePassport with equipment which includes DSLAM terminals,video servers and customer set-top boxes to cost-effectively and simultaneously deliver enhanced triple play voice,data and video services to residential subscribers and businesses.

The deal is worth 23 million Euro over the next three years and TelePassport expects the deployment to be delivering services to the Greek market by the second quarter of 2006.TelePassport is planning the expansion of its network with the creation of 36 nodes in order to extend coverage to 70%of the Greek population.Initially an IPTVservice will be provided in Athens and Thessalonica which will expand to cover the whole of Greece within the next two years.

The first triple play package will include access to 384-2 048 kb/s internet,at least two telephone lines per connection and access to content.

The new platform will be able to provide a wide range of services including free voice communication between TelePassport subscribers,additionaltelephone lines,specified speed internet access,on-line gaming,IPTVfree channels/satellite channels or terrestrial,subscriptions channels,musical programs on satellite radio,near VoD,TSTV(Time-Shifted Television),PVR(Personal Video Recorder),TVvideo telephone,on line betting,tele-marketing,tele-medicine,TVmail and info services such as news,cinema,and hospital information.Mr.Richard J.Guo,Vice President of ZTEInternational Marketing Department said:″ZTEis present in more than 20 countries in Europe.Greece has been our center in the Balkans since 2002.After our successful development and commercial disposition of triple play in many countries worldwide,this is our first installation in Greece.Iwould like to thank TPfor the excellent cooperation.Our advanced products and services combined with TP's wide experience of the Greek market will benefit the Greek consumers.″