Cheap 3G is coming... maybe
02 February 2006
Operators without 3G licences are looking at Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) over 900MHz and 1800MHz (UMTS900/18000) as a way of rolling out 3G on their existing GSM spectrum - without having to shell out for a new swathe of frequencies.
The completion of UMTS and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) trial calls over the 900MHz spectrum, completed by Nortel and Orange France last week, highlights industry interest in running 3G over the traditional GSM spectrum.
Indeed, Nortel was not the first vendor to pitch the idea.
Last March, Chinese vendor Huawei launched a UMTS1800 solution and promptly scored a contract with leading Thai operator Advanced Info Services (AIS) to trial WCDMA in the operator's 1800MHz spectrum.
With the Thai regulator still mulling the licensing of 3G spectrum, AIS is thought to want to convert its 1800MHz licence into a 3G license and maintain its GSM subscribers on its 900MHz band.
An AIS spokeswoman would not confirm or deny the plans but said the operator would only make a move when the government has finalised its decision on licensing 3G.
Speaking to telecoms.com about the trial with Orange, Jean-Luc Jezouin, leader of Nortel's GSM/UMTS unit for EMEA, said he anticipates UMTS900 will take off in Europe and Asia in about four years. Jezouin nixed questions on the availability of compatible handsets by saying that with Qualcomm on-board for the trial, new handsets supporting UMTS900 would be available by year end, featuring support for tri-band features including UMTS1800.
Qualcomm has publicly said it anticipates UMTS900/1800 deployments in China and Europe, and UMTS1700 in Japan and North America.
Jezouin believes France will be one country to spearhead the uptake of UMTS900 as 25 percent of the French metropolitan population live in rural areas. The French Ministry for Telecommunications has already said it will allow operators to ask for a conversion of all or part of its 2G frequency bands for the deployment of 3G.
Furthermore, the results of the UMTS900 trials, as submitted to the 3GPP, confirm that approximately half of all GSM900 cells will be able to use GSM900 and UMTS900 in tandem, paving the way for parallel deployments of GSM900 and UMTS900.
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