18.9 3G: Redefining Wireless Internet Services

Most wireless carriers treat 2.5G as a short-term solution toward the ultimate highspeed 3G mobile data networks. The visions of 3G networks are still evolving, growing in both scope and complexity, considering that it is being defined by all members of the wireless value chain, including network operators, service providers, equipment manufacturers, government agencies, and others. The broad definition of 3G is focused on the global telecommunications infrastructure that is capable of supporting voice, data, and multimedia services over a variety of mobile and fixed networks. Multimedia support is perhaps the largest, most-important differentiator of the 3G networks from its wireless data networks predecessors. Among the key objectives of the 3G networks are high data-transmission rates from 144 kbps in high mobility context to 2 Mbps for stationary wireless connections, interoperability with fixed-line networks, worldwide roaming capability, common billing/user profiles, location services, and ability to support high-quality multimedia services.

While the switch from the 1G cellular to the 2G digital networks was far more noticeable from the technology point of view, with the industry focusing on adjusting to a major technological paradigm shift, the move from the 2G to the 3G networks is still a little blurred, with the industry focusing more on the qualitative service provision characteristics, and thus making it harder to agree on specific quantitative standards. In reality, the promise of 3G does not lie in the technical sophistication of the system, but rather in the benefits that consumers and providers are hoping to derive from it. The benefits of 3G to consumers focus primarily on two dimensions: convenience and cost. With 3G services in place, consumers will obtain access to wider quantity and variety of information and applications from their mobile devices. The 3G devices that will enable access to the 3G services will be enabled with much-richer multimedia features, location-based services, and other instrumental functions that will allow the end users to have the best possible experience with the broadband connection and plethora of content that 3G networks will be able to offer.

Economically, 3G services will be more reachable for mobile end users. One of the main complaints from the end users of the previous mobile Internet services based on the CDPD or Metricom technology was very high cost associated with data transactions. 3G systems are being designed to get the most efficient use of the spectrum, and the tight competition created in the 3G services providers' field will most likely result in lower costs and prices.

Three classes of 3G networks are expected to emerge: EDGE, W-CDMA, and CDMA2000. What technology-specific carriers will choose will mostly depend on the type of current networks that the carriers have. AT&T and most likely the SBC/BellSouth joint venture will follow the EDGE network, which is built on GPRS. Sprint and Verizon, currently using CDMA, are planning to move to CDMA2000. W-CDMA is the standard that will most likely be implemented in Europe and Asia, and will come to the United States only if the Asian or European telecoms will move to the U.S. market through mergers and acquisitions. Unlike CDMA2000, W-CDMA is not backward compatible with the 2G CDMA networks. The incompatibility ensures that Japan and Europe will move to 3G more quickly than the United States. In addition, 3G rollout in the United States will be slower, considering the fragmented market lacking the nationwide infrastructure that Europe and Japan have developed, the widespread and lower-density concentration of mobile users (due to most Americans living in rural areas), and the patched network with at least three competing standards.

Japan will lead the 3G revolution, with the 3G services rollouts by NTT DoCoMo and its competitor J-Phone. In Europe, the 3G rollouts are planned for the 2003–2004 timeframe. Vodaphone plans to offer 3G services in the United Kingdom and H3G is planning to start providing 3G services in Italy by the end of 2002. In the United States, both Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless have announced plans to roll out 3G services using CDMA2000 technology in late 2002 or early 2003. However, 3G technology carries certain technological implications associated with the network's upgrade that could slow down the 3G conversion by a year or two.