3G gets jittery with new super fast rival

Lucas van Grinsven

AMSTERDAM: Europe's second largest mobile carrier T-Mobile said it had started the continent's first trial of U.S.-based Flarion's high-speed wireless Internet in the Dutch city of The Hague.

Flarion's so-called Flash OFDM technology may jeopardize the future of third generation (3G) mobile phone networks, because it offers faster download times for large computer files as well as new services such as pictures, songs and video.

During the trial, Germany-based T-Mobile gives friendly customers access to the network as it aims to understand user behaviour and the robustness of the system that can carry data 10 times faster and cheaper than 3G phone networks.

Bedminster, New Jersey-based Flarion, which was spun off from communications gear maker Lucent, was the inventor of Flash Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Flash OFDM).

Britain's Vodafone started a Flarion trial in Japan earlier this year, while U.S.-based Nextel is testing in North America and Telstra in Australia.

"We have trials with tier one operators in all regions now," said European marketing director Joe Barret.

T-Mobile, whose sister company T-Ventures is an investor in closely-held Flarion, remained cautious about the future of the new network technology.

"T-Mobile is constantly investigating and screening new mobile broadband technologies," its head of systems engineering, Hans-Eckhard Krueger, said in a statement.

"As a leader in existing wireless broadband technologies like 3G and WiFi, we are eager to learn more about future technologies," he said.

FAST INTERNET ACCESS, ON THE MOVE

Flash-OFDM will start out on laptop computers offering uninterrupted, high-speed connections even when a user's signal switches from one base station to another, allowing employees to access company networks as if they were in the office.

Through simple additions of Flash OFDM computer boards, Flarion's technology can operate in the same radio spectrum and uses the same antennas as Europe's 3G systems, but conditions on the sale of 3G radio spectrum licenses currently prevent this.

Analysts say the restrictions have become an unnecessary burden, destroying the value of the licences and wasting radio spectrum when more efficient networks can pump greater amounts of information through the limited airwaves.

Barrett said Flarion is lobbying for relaxed rules.

"By the end of the year, regulators will give operators the option to use the 3G spectrum also for Flash OFDM," he said.

Flarion has said it does not want to dethrone Europe's 3G phone system, and that the two systems can co-exist. 3G was designed for voice calls and modest data usage, and Flash-OFDM was originally designed for demanding computer users, it said.

Meanwhile, 3G infrastructure vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola have pointed out that 3G will be improved next year with so-called HSDPA technology that will increase data transport speeds.

Flarion's Barrett replied that HSDPA will probably be delayed by two years and that its performance will probably disappoint, as did the initial launch of 3G systems.

Network vendors also said they are hesitant to build network gear based on a technology, which is owned by just one company.

Flarion said it does not want to become "a second Qualcomm" - the U.S. firm which owns all the CDMA patents used for many mobile phone networks in the Americas, which has resulted in much more expensive handsets compared with GSM ones.

"We understand the industry does not want to be taken for a ride. We've seen mistakes other companies have made in this industry and outside. We want this to be a global success and that doesn't mean trying to skin the market," Barrett said.