3G: Still a long way to go?

Shrikanth G 

With 3G services in the mobile space on the threshold of reality, many in the industry look at it as the natural evolution from 2G. Moreover, with 2G spectrum already getting choked, the launch of 3G is seen as a significant step in improving overall service levels. To this end, the operators received a major fillip when, in November, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had allowed mobile phone companies to conduct 3G trials in select cities within the stipulated timeframe of March 31, 2007. To that end, Aircel, now part of Malaysia's Maxis Communications, has successfully tested 3G in Chennai in association with ZTE Corporation. Aircel was given permission to conduct 3G readiness tests in Chennai, Coimbatore, Bhubaneshwar, Shillong and Guwahati. The company will be soon doing 3G trials in Coimbatore.

As part of its 3G readiness tests, Aircel has tested a complete array of 3G services including voice and video calls at 64 kbps. Meanwhile, applications like rich data services like downloading music, movies and pictures are tested between 384 to 1024 kbps. On the high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) front, Aircel has achieved speeds of up to 3.3 mbps. According to company sources, this is adequate for HSDPA applications like downloading large volumes of business data and consumer applications like streaming movies online.

AIRCEL's 3G SERVICE

Partnered with ZTE

Tested 3G services in Chennai

Tested voice and video calls

According to Kini, there is a lot of ambiguity in terms of 3G as a technology, given that the company dirtied its hands in understanding the technology to the core so that it will be able to offer state-of-the-art services. In terms of infrastructure for the 3G testing, Aircel, in collaboration with ZTE, has put in place a slew of 3G equipments like mobile switching center (MSC) servers, media gateways, radio network controllers (RNC) node B, which is known as 3G BTS with HSDPA, and VoIP nodes.

Still Ambiguous

While the government's move in facilitating 3G trials is a positive indication about the subsequent roll out of the technology, one of the larger impacts of 3G lies in the overall improvement of quality of services. In order to provide 3G services, operators need to significantly ramp up their infrastructure. For instance, high speed streaming video can be offered only when the networks are state-of-the-art. Even if a subscriber is using typical 2G services on 3G-enabled network, the quality would be much better. The second major area where 3G is expected to have an impact is on the spectrum crunch on the 2G-based networks. Some of the observers feel that commercial launch of 3G will help ease this issue as there is paucity of spectrum in 2G, mainly in metros. For instance, the 3G spectrum is said to be multiple times higher than the 2G spectrum in terms of voice.

Even if a subscriber is using typical 2G services on 3G-enabled network, the quality would be much better

According to industry sources, commercial availability of 3G services is expected to by mid of this year and companies like Aircel has the early mover advantage in capitalizing on the value 3G services offer. But there are inherent issues that need to be tackled; for instance the government is yet to clearly spell out aspects like slashing the entry fee for 3G, and aspects like whether to restrict bidding to existing players or allow new players and spectrum allocation to GSM and CDMA operators. Aircel considers the successful 3G trials as significant milestone for the company as it gives an advantage to be market ready before a technology becomes commercially available in the country.

Several Indian cellular players such as Bharti, Tata Teleservices etc. are in the process of conducting trials to make sure that 3G backbone is in place before the goverment comes out with its 3G spectrum policy. The success of 3G in India will depend on the pricing of spectrum, launch of cost effective services and availability of 3G handsets.

Contrary to WiMAX, a competing technology, the focus of 3G will be in metros in the initial phase. Indian players are cagey about spending extra funds for 3G spectrum as many international players had burnt their fingers bidding at exhorbitant prices.