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UMTS / 3G Industry

What is a UMTS network? You take an existing GSM network, add a high speed internet connected data network, install CDMA base stations that enable higher data rates and more accurate location information, then you add more applications to make it mobile internet-like, give fancy color screen multimedia terminal to your customers and your UMTS network is ready. You hope that higher data rates will create a new mobile application industry, that will use all the available bandwidth and you find people who are ready to pay for it. And if all goes well customers learn to call and be called by non-human counterparts and companies see advantages in using the UMTS network as a computer to computer communication path and the good times are back for everyone.

An operator needs about US$2.5B to build a 5,000 base station UMTS network and about the same amount to run the organisation and attract customers to make it profitable. On top of this the operator has to pay for the license and financing. This means that an operator has to come up with an innovative business case to get the funding organised and the network on air. Even much talked about vendor financing does not come cheaply, as this will affect stock prices and future commitments. New alliances and cost sharing arrangements have been created to make it all possible.

Applications are at the heart of the next generation network. It's what it's all about! Faster data rates and mobiles with larger color screens will enable new services to be created giving a new cyber-air-space. Initially it is a combination of the existing Internet and a car navigation system. Soon there will be audio, improved still images, moving images, multimedia mailing and video conference. Then any place turns into a virtual home environment with software agents, remote LAN access points and web browsing opportunities. Home automation, man-machine interaction technologies, mobile asset management, person locating applications and games that make the most of mobility will also be there. Old Internet hit products like email, live events, gaming, gambling, adult content, clubs and chat rooms will also be implemented. If operators can only get the micro-billing right, then business will take off.

New players will emerge from different backgrounds to create new products and business opportunities. Service providers, content providers, value-added applications providers and application developers are all competing for end customer dollars. They are trying to create new user segments to generate a variety of revenue sources. The race for the future earnings has already started. Take a look how the old players are doing at the moment. Here is a selection of stock prices of main 3G players world wide.

3G and UMTS Technology

Mobile data communications is evolving quickly because of Internet, Intranet, Laptops, PDAs and increased requirements of workforce mobility. UMTS will be the commercial convergence of fixed line telephony, mobile, Internet and computer technology. New technologies are required to deliver high speed location and mobile terminal specific content to users. The emergence of new technologies thus provides an opportunity for a similar boom what the computer industry had in 1980s, and Internet and wireless voice had in 1990s.

The main IMT-2000 standardisation effort was to create a new air interface that would increase frequency usage efficiency. The WCDMA air interface was selected for paired frequency bands (FDD operation) and TDCDMA (TDD operation) for unpaired spectrum. CDMA2000 standard was created to support IS-95 evolution.

The UMTS transport network is required to handle high data traffic. A number of factors were considered when selecting a transport protocol: bandwidth efficiency, quality of service, standardisation stability, speech delay sensitivity and the permitted maximum number of concurrent users. In the UMTS network, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) is defined for the connection between UTRAN and the core network and may also be used within the core network. In addition to the IMT-2000 frame many new standards will be integrated as part of the next generation mobile systems. Bluetooth and other close range communication protocols and several different operating systems will be used in mobiles. Internet will come to mobiles with WAP, i-mode and XML protocols. 3G development has helped to start the standardisation and development of large family of technologies.

This section covers some of the core UMTS technologies and it will be updated regularly.

3G Applications

3G operators are planning to make their money with mobile applications even when there might never be a single killer application. According to the Report 9 from UMTS Forum near-term 3G data services are subdivided into content connectivity and mobility, then further subdivided to create the following six services:

According to a whitepaper form Nokia, 3G applications can be divided into:
Wireless Advertising

No matter how you classify those, the bottom line is that computer and Internet application will merge with communication and location based services. Network operators, vendors and third party providers are already creating the applications and demos. Here are some sample what might soon come to a phone near you:

3G Phones and Devices

UMTS phones will be available in the second half of 2002. Nokia has announced their launch date to be September 26, 2002. Motorola has said that they will launch their phone before Nokia. Here are links to other 3G phone vendors products:
Do you need to test a web enabled wireless device?
www.umtsworld.com/tests.htm
page helps you to explore your device's capabilities! (6k) BETA



UMTS handsets

  • Alcatel NEW
  • LG Phone
  • Lucent / Option UMTS data card
  • Lucent / Novatel Wireless GSM/GPRS/UMTS PC Card Merlin U530
  • Motorola A820, brochure (464k), A830, A835, A920
  • NEC
  • Nokia
  • Panasonic
  • Qualcomm TM5200 Test Phone (previously called TM5200c)
  • Qualcomm TM6200
  • Siemens U10 (developed jointly with Motorola)
  • Samsung SGH-Z100
  • Sanyo V-SA701 news article
  • Sony Ericsson Z1010, More

    • UMTS handsets, operator web sites:

    • Three handset (Hutchison UK)

    WCDMA (DoCoMo) FOMA handsets:

    • NEC
    • Panasonic
    • Mitsubishi (FOMA link) see the picture >
    • Fujitsu (FOMA link)

    FOMA Handset links:

    • DoCoMo FOMA Mobiles

    CDMA2000 1X EV-DO Handsets:

    • Samsung
    • Hyundai Curitel PD-6000
    • LG see the picture >
    • Qualcomm QTP-5500 Test Phone
    • GTran Wireless
    • Airprime

    GSM EDGE Handsets:

    • SonyEricsson PC Card GC82
    • Nokia 6220 NEW
    • Motorola

    3G Concept phone links:

    • 3G-Generation site
    • European Phone site

    What does the acronym UMTS stand for?

    Universal Mobile Telephone System.


    What is UMTS?

    UMTS is one of the Third Generation (3G) mobile systems being developed within the ITU's IMT-2000 framework. It is a realisation of a new generation of broadband multi-media mobile telecommunications technology. The coverage area of service provision is to be world wide in the form of FLMTS (Future Land Mobile Telecommunications Services and now called IMT2000). The coverage will be provided by a combination of cell sizes ranging from 'in building' Pico Cells to Global Cells provided by satellite, giving service to the remote regions of the world. The UMTS is not a replacement of 2nd generation technologies (e.g. GSM, DCS1800, CDMA, DECT etc.), which will continue to evolve to their full potential.


    What are the different types of 3G networks?

    ITU Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 specifies five types of 3G radio interfaces:

    For more information about 3G air interfaces, download ITU "What is IMT-2000" presentation (2.5Mb!). Note that page 3 does not classify CDMA2000 1X as 3G, but page 6 does.

    Some 2.5G systems (GSM GPRS, IS- 95B and CDMA2000 1X (?)) will be able to deliver 3G services, so it will be difficult for users to see the difference.

     

    What are the different types of 3G core networks?

    The IMT-2000 family of 3G systems includes three types of Core Network technology:

     

    What is the difference between cdma2000 and UMTS?

    Cdma2000 and UMTS were developed separately and are 2 separate ITU approved 3G standards. Cdma2000 1xRTT, cdma2000 1xEV-DO (EVolution, Data Only) and future cdma2000 3x were developed to be backward compatible with cdmaOne. Both 1x types have the same bandwidth, chip rate and it can be used in any existing cdmaOne frequency band and network. Backward compatibility was a requirement for successful deployment for USA market. It is easy to implement because operators do not need new frequencies. [more about cdma2000]

    UMTS was developed mainly for countries with GSM networks, because these countries have agreed to free new frequency ranges for UMTS networks. Because it is a new technology and in a new frequency band, whole new radio access network has to be build. The advantage is that new frequency range gives plenty of new capacity for operators. 3GPP is overseeing the standard development and has wisely kept the core network as close to GSM core network as possible. UMTS phones are not meant to be backward compatible with GSM systems. (but subscriptions (=SIM card) can be, and dual mode phone will solve the compatibility problems, hopefully). UMTS also has 2 flavors FDD (will be implemented first) and TDD.

    Some harmonisation has been done between systems (like chip rate and pilot issues)

     

    What are 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G?

    Technically generations are defined:
    1G networks (NMT, C-Nets, AMPS, TACS) are considered to be the first analog cellular systems, which started early 1980s. There were radio telephone systems even before that.

     

    What have been the major milestones in 3G development and specification?

    Here is a list of major 3G development milestones.

    The Early Days
    • 1831 Michael Faraday discovered the principle of electro-magnetical induction.
    • 1837 Samuel F.B. Morse developed his fully functional telegraph
    • 1842 Joseph Henry discovered that an electrical spark between two conductors is able to induce magnetism in needles, this effect is detected at a distance of 30 metres
    • 1849? - 1857 Antonio Meucci invented a "sound telegraph", a device for transforming electricity to sound. He called his invention a teletrofono, or electric telephone. He filed his first patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent) in 1871. This provisionary patent lapsed in 1874.
    • 1854 The fundamental idea of the electrical transmitting of sound was published by Charles Bourseul first in the magazine "L'Illustration de Paris".
    • 1858 Feddersen proves with his experiments the oscillating character of spark-discharges.
    • October 1861 Phillip Reis demonstrated his "electric ear" before the Physical Society of Frankfort, Germany. Reis coined the word "telephony" in that demonstration.
    • 1865 British professor James Clerk Maxwell published a purely mathematical theory in "On a dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field".
    • 1873 Maxwell shows mathematically that electric waves could be sent over distance in a "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism".
    • March 1876 Alexander Graham Bell made his first successful telephone experiment. Bell filed a for a patent February 14, 1876 beating Elisha Gray by only two hours.
    • In December 1883 Paul Nipkow he had thought of a way to send a moving picture by wire
    • 1884 Temistocle Caldecchi-Onesti observed that loosely packed metallic powders are bad electricity conductors until subjected to some external forces such as electric sparks generated by the opening and closing of an electrical circuit, or the presence of inductive fields, or by electrostatic induction.
    • 1886 German scientist Heinrich Hertz calculated that electromagnetic waves could be broadcasted by a rapidly alternating current in a short antenna.
    • 1888 Hertz proves Maxwell's theories in experiments that transmitted waves in a corner of his physics classroom at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic in Berlin. He demonstrated that these are long, transverse waves that travel at the velocity of light and can be reflected, refracted, and polarized like light.
    • Before 1892 Tesla had found the theoretical basis for radio communication
    • 1892 First automatic telephone exchange invented by Almon B Strowger entered service in Indiana, USA
    • 1894 British physicist Sir Oliver Lodge uses a device called the "coherer" (an electrical device whose function was based on a discovery made in 1890 by a French physicist, Édouard Branly) to detect the presence of radio waves and demonstrates that these waves could be used for signalling.
    • 1895 Alexander Stepanovich Popov reported sending and receiving a wireless signal across a 600 yards distance
    • 1895 Guglielmo Marconi made the first tentative wireless transmissions, at his family villa in Italy
    • 1896 Marconi made his first public demonstration of wireless telegraphy
    • 1898 First commercial wireless telegram transmitted.
    • 1898 Wireless telegraphy is used for the first time in naval manoeuvres - a range of 60 miles.
    • 1899 Wireless communication between England and France.
    • December 23, 1900 Reginald Fessenden succeeds to transmit voice over radio. Fessenden said into his microphone, "One, two, three, four. Is It snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If so telegraph back and let me know." Thiessen replied by telegraph in Morse code that it was indeed snowing.
    • December 12, 1901 Marconi's wireless communication across the Atlantic a distance of 3500 kilometres from Cornwall, England to a receiving station on Signal Hill overlooking St. John's Harbour in Newfoundland. (possible the letter "s" in Morse code)
    • October 1902, The first Verifiable transatlantic radio transmission was made during from Poldhu, Cornwall to the Italian cruiser Carlos Alberto anchored in the harbour of Sydney, NS with Marconi aboard. The frequency employed was about 272 kHz.
    • In 1903, Valdemar Poulsen (Denmark) invented a means of producing continuous waves by "arc transmission", later used to construct high-frequency alternators for sending radio waves
    • November 16 1904 John Fleming invented the thermionic two-electrode valve (diode), it was used to sound transmission.
    • 1906 American de Lee Forest adds a third electrode to the diode (triode) and produces a sensitive receiver and amplifier. (applied for a patent on October 25, 1906)
    • 1906 Reginald Fessenden constructed a high-frequency alternator (2 kW, 100 kHz) and succeeded in transmitting the human voice much longer distance over the radio. On December 24, 1906, at 9 P.M. eastern standard time, Reginald Fessenden transmitted human voices (reading the Bible and poetry, a woman singing, a violin solo and short speech) from Brant Rock near Boston, Massachusetts to several ships at sea owned by the United Fruit Company.
    • January 13, 1910, a broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City featuring Enrico Caruso was heard 20 km away on a ship at sea.
    • 1914 Marconi used the thermionic valve as a radio generator which produces a carrier wave capable of being modulated by speech and transmitted speech over 50 miles.
    • Late 1910s - 1920s First police car radios and walkie-talkies in metropolitan New York area. 1921 Police car radios in Detroit; The first private radio telephone systems.
    • 1923, Zworykin demonstrated his television system before officials at Westinghouse and applied for a patent.
    • October 30, 1925, John Logie Baird of London was succesful in transmitting his first picture: the head of a dummy.
    • December 25, 1926, Kenjito Takayanagi of Tokyo used a cathode-ray tube to transmit an image of Japanese writing.
    • 1927 Philo Farnsworth demonstrates the first television for potential investors by broadcasting the image of a dollar sign
    • 1940s and 1950s Spread Spectrum technique for military anti-jam applications
    • 1946 First mobile telephone service in St.Louis, USA introduced by AT&T (single-cell, manual operation)
    • 1949 Claude Shannon and Robert Pierce develop basic ideas of CDMA
    • December 3 1950 Sture Lauhrén made the world first cellphone call using prototype system developed by Ericsson and The Swedish Telecom
    • 1956 RAKE receiver patented
    • 1956 Swedish PTT Televerket put a full automatic mobile telephone system into operation.
    • June 1969 the Nordic telecommunications conference established the Nordic Mobile Telephone Group which was given the task to develop a new mobile telephone system that would be applied in all the Nordic countries.
    • 1970s Several CDMA developments for military systems (e. g. GPS)
    • April 3 1973 Motorola vice presidents Marty Cooper and John Mitchell made the first public demonstration of a call from a handheld wireless phone.
    • The Analog Cellular Age
    • 1979 The first commercial mobile phone network was opened for business in Tokyo. (MCS-L1 introduced by NTT, AMPS based, 25 kHz channels)
    • 1979 Pre-commercial operation of Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) in US
    • 1981 Commercial operation of NMT450 (early September in Saudi Arabia, 1st October Sweden and week later in Denmark)
    • 1982 GSM development started by "Group Speciale Mobile" formed by CEPT, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
    • 1982 INMARSAT service started
    • March 6 1983 - Motorola introduced the world's first commercial portable cellular phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
    • October 13 1983 First commercial operation of AMPS (AT&T's Illinois Bell, Chicago)
    • 1985 System C450 in commercial operation in Germany
    • 1985 TACS system (AMPS based) in commercial operation in UK
    • 1985 IMT-2000 study began with the establishment of Interim Working Party 8/13 (IWP 8/13) by Decision 69 and work continued in Task Group 8/1. IMT stands for International Mobile Telecommunications and the number 2000 had three meanings. It was supposed to represent the year 2000, when the ITU hoped the system would become available, data rates of 2000 kbps and frequencies in the 2000 MHz region.
    • 1987 - Early 1990s one UMTS research project in RACE 1, seven projects in RACE2 and fourteen projects in the ACTS Program. RACE projects were funded by Commission of European Communities (CEC). FAMOUS (Future Advanced MObile Universal Telecommunications Systems) meetings three times a year between Europe, the United States and Japan.
    • 1988 ETSI formed in Europe
    • 1988 MCS-L2 introduced in Japan (12.5 kHz channels)
    • The Digital Cellular Age
    • July 1 1991 First GSM network, Radiolinja in Finland was officially opened
    • October 1991 the first European roaming call was made between the Finnish PT and Vodafone.
    • 1991 - 1995 two CEC funded research projects called Code Division Testbed (CODIT) and Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (ATDMA) were carried out by the major European telecom manufacturers and network operators. The CODIT and ATDMA projects investigated the suitability of wideband Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based radio access technology for 3G systems. This work was later continued in the FRAMES (Future Radio Wideband Multiple Access System) project and became the basis of the further ETSI UMTS work until decisions were taken in 1998.
    • February 1992 World Radio Conference in Malaga (WRC-92) allocated frequencies for future UMTS use. Frequencies 1885 - 2025 and 2110 - 2200 MHz were identified for IMT-2000 use.
    • 1992 All major European operators start commercial operation of GSM networks
    • 1993 First DSC1800 (now called GSM1800) system in commercial operation in UK
    • 1993 IS-95 CDMA standard finalised
    • 1993 First DSC1800 system in commercial operation in UK
    • 1994 Commercial operation of D-AMPS (IS-54) in US started
    • 1994 Commercial operation of PDC in Japan started by NTT
    • 1994 Mobile Green Paper (550kb) identified the evolution towards personal communications.
    • February 1995 The UMTS Task Force was established, "The Road to UMTS" report.
    • 1995 Commercial operation of N-CDMA system (IS-95) in Hong Kong/Korea
    • 1995 PCS1900 (D-AMPS in 1900 MHz band, IS-136)
    • December 1996 The UMTS Forum was established at the inaugural meeting, held in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1996, the planned "European" WCDMA standard has been known as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
    • June 1997 the UMTS Forum produced its first report entitled "A regulatory Framework for UMTS" Read the Executive Summary.
    • October 1997 ERC decided on UMTS core band.
    • January 1998 ETSI SMG meeting in Paris both W-CDMA and TD-CDMA proposals were combined to UMTS air interface specification.
    • June 1998 Terrestrial air interface proposals (UTRAN, WCDMA(s), CDMA2000(s), EDGE, EP-DECT, TD-SCDMA) were handed into ITU-R
    • September 1998 the first call using a Nokia WCDMA terminal in DoCoMo's trial network was completed at Nokia's R&D unit near Tokyo in Japan.
    • December 4 1998 ETSI SMG, T1P1, ARIB TTC, TTA created 3GPP in Copenhagen, Denmark
    • December 7 and 8 1998 the first meetings of the 3GPP Technical Specification Groups in Sophia Antipolis, France
    • December 14 1998 The decision of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers requires that Member States take all necessary measures to allow the coordinated and progressive introduction of UMTS services by 1st January 2002 at the latest
    • February 1999 Nokia Oyj said that it has completed what it claims to be the first WCDMA call through the public switched telephone network in the world. The calls were made from Nokia's test network in Finland using a WCDMA terminal, WCDMA base station subsystem and Nokia GSM Mobile switching centers connected to the PSTN.
    • March 16 1999 Finland gave out the world's first 3G mobile technology licenses. Four licenses awarded to Sonera, Radiolinja, Telia and Suomen Kolmegee. Technically some operators in USA and elsewhere already had the licenses and frequencies to operate third generation networks.
    • March 1999 ITU approves radio interfaces for third generation mobile systems in the meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil. Also Ericsson and Qualcomm agreed to share access to each other's technology ending a two-year patent dispute.
    • April 27 and 28, 1999 Lucent Technologies, Ericsson and NEC announced that they have been chosen by NTT DoCoMo to supply W-CDMA equipment for NTT DoCoMo's next-generation wireless commercial network in Japan. This was the first announced WCDMA 3G infrastructure deal.
    • 1999 World Radio Conference (WRC-99) handled spectrum and regulatory issues for advanced mobile communications applications in the context of IMT-2000. The aim was to identify additional frequency bands to satisfy market demand by 2005-2010. World wide roaming issues were also discussed.
    • December 1999 in Nice ETSI Standardisation finished for UMTS Release 1999 specifications both for FDD and TDD (spec version 3.y.z).
    • March 29, 2000 Siemens makes world's first 3G/UMTS call over TD-CDMA (TDD).
    • April 2000 World Radio Conference (WRC-2000) finalises the extension of the UMTS/IMT-2000 band.
    • Mid 2000 First commercial GPRS networks launched. Several operators and network vendors claim to be the first.
    • July 2000 responsibility for maintenance and development of the GSM specifications was transferred from ETSI TC SMG to 3GPP
    • October 1, 2000 SK Telecom of Korea launches the first commercial cdma2000 network
    • January 1, 2001 was originally planned for first commercial networks operational. No 3G networks were operating in January 1, 2001.
    • March 2001 in Palm Springs 3GPP approves UMTS Release 4 specification (spec version 4.y.z).
    • April 17, 2001 Ericsson and Vodafone UK claim to have made the world's first WCDMA voice call over commercial network.
    • June 28, 2001 NTT DoCoMo launched a trial 3G service; an area-specific information service for i-mode. NTT DoCoMo has announced that it definitely plans to hit its October 1st target for a full commercial launch.
    • September 25, 2001 NTT DoCoMo announced that three 3G phone models are commercially available.
    • The High Speed Cellular Age
    • October 1, 2001 NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial WCDMA 3G mobile network.
    • November 1, 2001 Nokia and AT&T Wireless complete first live 3G EDGE call.
    • December 1, 2001 Telenor launched in Norway the first commercial UMTS network. UMTS terminals were expected to be available 3Q 2002.
    • December 19, 2001 Nortel Networks and Vodafone in Spain (formerly Airtel Movil) completed first live international UMTS 3GPP standard roaming calls between Madrid (Vodafone network) and Tokyo (J-Phone network). Calls were made with a QUALCOMM MSM5200 chipset-based handset and J-Phone SIM technology.
    • January 28, 2002 SK Telecom in Korea launched the world's first commercial CDMA2000 1xEV-DO.
    • February 8, 2002 Nokia claims to have made the first end-to-end 3G WCDMA standard level 3GPP Release 99 June 2001 packet data calls between its commercial network infrastructure and terminals in its laboratories in Finland. The Nokia 3G WCDMA network and terminal used were based on the commercial version.
    • February 18, 2002 Motorola unveils the company’s first GSM/GPRS and 3G/UMTS product, the A820. Motorola is "one of the first vendors to introduce a dual-mode enabled UMTS mobile phone"
    • February 20, 2002 Nokia and Omnitel Vodafone claims to have made the first rich call in an end-to-end All-IP mobile network at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France.
    • March 2002 (Freeze date) UMTS Release 5 (the initial target date was December 2001)
    • April 30, 2002 The figures released by the Ministry of Transportation & Communications (MOTC) show that the number of mobile phone users in Taiwan reached 22.6 million at the end of April 2002, representing 100.7 percent of the population in the Taiwan area, meaning that there is more than one phone for each person in Taiwan.
    • September 24, 2002 Ericsson announces the first live, dual mode WCDMA/GSM calls with seamless handover between the two modes and high data rate in live networks
    • September 25, 2002 Mobilkom Austria launches "Europe's First UMTS-Network" when Boris Nemsic CEO of Mobilkom "video-phoned" the Austrian politican Waltraud Klasnic. [see December 1, 2001 note above]
    • September 26, 2002 Nokia introduces the "world’s first handset [6650] for WCDMA [UMTS] and GSM networks".
    • October 1, 2002 Qualcomm announces world's first Bluetooth WCDMA (UMTS) and GSM Voice Calls.
    • October 3, 2002 Nokia and Vodafone Omnitel claims to "have carried out the world's first VoIP call completed in a 3GPP release 4 compliant network that transports circuit-switched voice and data calls through an IP backbone".
    • October 10, 2002 Nortel Networks and Qualcomm claim to "completed the industry's first UMTS voice and data calls demonstrating mobility across commercial cell sites using live 1900 MHz radio spectrum, Qualcomm chipsets in commercial-form-factor handsets, and a live, end-to-end 3GPP UMTS network from Nortel Networks".
    • October 17, 2002 Nortel Networks claim to have "demonstrated the world’s first UMTS calls using an IP-based UTRAN" using form factor handsets and an IP backbone based on Nortel Networks Optical Ethernet equipment. (Announced on October 22, 2002)
    • November 29, 2002 Nokia and Vodafone Omnitel carry out 3G WCDMA call handover to commercial GSM network
    • January 31, 2003 Ericsson conducts the world's first IPv6 over 3G UMTS/WCDMA network demonstration
    • February 10, 2003 LG introduced the world's first dual band, dual mode phone for both CDMA and WCDMA
    • February 2003, Korean mobile operator KTF announced plans to begin transmitting TV pictures direct to 3G mobile phones via the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO system

    The Future

    The decision of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers dated 14 December 1998 requires that Member States take all necessary measures to allow the coordinated and progressive introduction of UMTS services by 1st January 2002 at the latest. The EU's suggestion is that operators must cover 80% of the national population by the year 2005.

    June 2003 is a target date for UMTS Release 6


    2005 (original target) UMTS service will be world wide (?).

     

    What are all the different international organisations doing?

    European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is working in Europe to develop technical standards for UMTS. 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a co-operation between international standards bodies will make UMTS and third generation mobile telephony technical specifications. The founding members are: ARIB and TTC of Japan, ETSI of Europe, T1 (ANSI) of the U.S. and TTA of Korea. The work of these organisations will be announced globally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ITU coordinate world-wide spectrum and IMT2000 standardisation, harmonises regional regulatory policies and is a foundation and framework for 3G convergence across regions and technologies. UMTS Forum represents the opinions and views of the telecommunication industry and operators and GSM Associates is a mobile operator organisation. European Radiocommunications Committee (ECR) in European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administration (CEPT) handles European radio frequency related issues. European Union (EU) harmonises its 15 members UMTS implementation.


    How is UMTS different from current second generation networks?

    - Higher speech quality that current networks - Addition to speech traffic UMTS, together with advanced data and information services, will be a multimedia network.
    - UMTS is above 2G mobile systems for its potential to support 2Mbit/s data rates.
    - UMTS is a real global system, comprising both terrestrial and satellite components.
    - Consistent service environment even when roaming via "Virtual Home Environment" (VHE). A person roaming from his network to other UMTS operators, user will experience a consistent set of services thus "feeling" on his home network, independent of the location or access mode (satellite or terrestrial)

     

    Why is WCDMA called "Wideband"?

    3G WCDMA systems have 5MHz bandwidth (one direction). 5MHz is neither wide nor narrow; it is just the bandwidth. New 3G WCDMA systems have wider bandwidth than existing 2G cdma systems (cdmaOne 1.25MHz), that's why the "Wide". There are commercial cdma systems with 20MHz bandwidth.

     

    Are GSM/GPRS networks compatible with UMTS networks?

    UMTS networks can be operated with GSM/GPRS networks. Systems use different frequency bands, so BTSs and mobiles will (should) not interfere with each other. Some vendors claim their core network (MSC/HLR/SGSN ect) and BSC/RNC are UMTS compatible, but most operators will prefer to build a totally separate/independent UMTS network. Some of the latest GSM BTSs can also have UMTS radio parts and share the same rack.

    UMTS specification is design so that there is maximum compatibility between GSM and UMTS systems. Late 2002 there will also be dual/multi band phones that can be used in GSM and UMTS networks. Eventually phones will be able to do handovers between networks.

     

    Is there a transition period between UMTS and the present system?

    There will probably not be a "transition" period in that sense, because GSM systems will keep on operating at least next ten years. (some old 1G networks are still running round the world). Only limitations for operators are the GSM license terms and customer preferences. UMTS networks will just be added to mobile landscape.

     

    My GSM operator did not get a 3G license. What is going on?

    Several GSM operators (like in UK, Sweden, Denmark and France) failed / did not want / missed initially to get an UMTS license, but do not count them out yet. Existing operators have great assets like customer base, image, retail network, BTS site locations, transmission system etc., which help them to make deals with 3G license holders. Hutchison 3G in UK and Telia with Tele 2 in Sweden are good examples.

     

    What is the 3G status in the USA?

    Some operators have taken the path cdmaOne - cdma2000 1x - cdma2000 1x EV-DO - cdma2000 3x some D-AMPD - EDGE and some have chosen a GSM1900 - EDGE ( - possible UMTS) route. New cellular frequencies allocations have been postponed, so operators will have to use their existing frequencies, which naturally limits the available capacity. Read more about the USA 3G situation.

     

    What is the 3G status in the China?

    China has been testing the TD-SCDMA 3G system. License allocation and possible adaptation of other 3G technologies are still open. Read more about the China's 3G situation.

     

    What is the "Beauty Contest" when 3G licenses are issued? ... and Why?

    Beauty Contest means that the government asks all applicants to provide a plan how to build a network and manage their future 3G business. A plan typically includes things like: How many new jobs are created, what kind of services will be available and when, how much domestic products are used, how will less developed areas (rural areas) benefit from this, what kind of financial plan is in place to guarantee the success and avoid bankrupts etc. So government wants to decide what is best for the country, not who is willing to pay most. (In USA and Australia some highest bidding operators have gone bankrupt and government has to pay unemployment etc payments and it is also embarrassing for the government).

    By charging high license fee government imposes an indirect tax which mobile uses have to bear by paying more for making calls. By giving "free" licenses government can create a good environment for technology start up companies, because operator has more money to invest and less up-front fees.

     

    Which network vendors can build a turn key 3G network?

    No network vendor can supply all equipment and components to the full a 3G network, but quite a few can be a main contractor to build a turn-key 3G network. Normally network vendors can bring in partners like service and applications providers, hand set manufactures, civil work and acquisition companies etc.

    Current short list of main vendors for turn-key UMTS networks:

    Current short list of main vendors for turn-key cdma2000 networks:

     

    Who much does 3G network cost to build?

    Good source of information is to contract announcements and annual reports. Those usually tell how much money an operator will spend on infrastructure. In every country each carrier has to spend around same amount of money to build a same size 3G network, so if you see one of the operator's spending figures, all other operators use similar sums of money per subscriber.

    Sometimes spending figures include services (planning, logistics, commissioning, integration, testing etc.), but almost never civil works on base station sites. Press reports claim that operators in Europe have spend around 650 euro per 3G subscriber for infrastructure + planning services + site civil works, this figure should drop to around 400 euros within couple of years.

    Infrastructure cost are only small part of total network related cost and operators also have license fees, financing fees, cost of running the organisation, sales and marketing costs etc. [More]

     

    Tell me about UMTS / 3G electromagnetic radiation safety.

    First thing is to get your hands on to the latest government EMR (electromagnetic radiation) standard. Check you government web site. [Links]

    Your government pages should have more information and contact information where to order a booklet that gives guidelines at least of:

    Local city councils might also have their own additional guidelines, check those.

    Governments usually do not state exact values what is safe and what is not safe, for legal reasons. EU countries normally issue "guidelines" that are bit tougher than EU standards. In USA FDA has a clear statement: "Thus, the available science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phones are absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. However, the available scientific evidence does not [emphasis FDA's] demonstrate any adverse health effects associated with the use of mobile phones." See: FDA Mobile Phones page

    In most countries operators are required by law to calculate these safety zones. Ask your mobile operator if they can provide safety calculations.

    According to recent news articles there have been over 700 studies related to EMR without a final conclusion, so don't hold your breath to get a final answer in a near future. People always forget that mobile antennas radiate about 40W power, but TV and radio towers use kilowatts of power and even a hair drier generates a nice EMR field from 1000W like a kitchen microwave oven.

    WCDMA transmitter spread the 20-40W power over 5MHz, while GSM 40W transmitter uses 200kHz band, but GSM BTS need more radios to serve an area. Both systems use similar types of antennas, so EMR levels are similar. Both BTSs normally use power control to minimize the used power.

    EMR Resources:

     

    I want to buy a 3G / UMTS book. Which one should I buy?

    See our book selection page. But before you buy, you should study a bit 3G / UMTS. Read our technology section. Then download 3GPP specifications content page and select the first specifications of each series like XX.001, XX.002 or XX.Y01, for example:

    Once you know the basics well enough, you can buy the book that has the right technical level for you. You will also notice how some of the books have copied most of the content from the 3GPP specks. If you read a book from our list, please send us a 20-50 word opinion/description of it, and will add that to the books page. If you find a 3G related book that is not on the list, email: [email protected].

     

    Where can I find additional reliable 3G information about ... ?

    Best thing is to read the 3G specifications. It is actually easier to read than you might think.
    From 3GPP page http://www.3gpp.org/specs/titles-numbers.htm you can see specifications titles and versions. For example if you want to know about USIM, following titles can be seen:

    You need to FTP them for example from ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/ . You can also type that to IE5.0 or later or use FTP program. If you use IE5.0 select File - Copy to Folder from the top menu to copy file so your computer.

    Follow the folders and then for example:
    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-5/21_series/ has the latest 21.111 specifications. (Jun 2002)

    The Second best thing is to search Google, but then again the Internet is full of misinformation.

     

    Where can I find details of UMTS call set up procedure?

    Download 3GPP specification:

     

    Tell me about WLAN and 3G interoperability.

    Vendor as busy showing their WLAN-3G capabilities, roaming and network handovers are the hot topics. Lucent Technologies announced demonstration of 3G high-speed mobile data and voice capabilities, Nokia shows the WLAN implementation and British Telecom has announced the WLAN hot spot implementation.

    3GPP specs show two related docs:

    You can download 22.934 from: ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/Latest-drafts/
    Earlier FAQ Answer gives you some help how to download those

    Other place to look technical data is IEEE 802.11 Group and search for "3G" etc.

    You can find documents like:

    http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Minutes/Cons_Minutes_Mar-2002.pdf
    and search for 3G in that document and you see the current status.

    WLAN Resources:

    80211 Planet

     

    Will the future 3G handsets be compatible with 2G systems and PCs?

    Some of the 3G mobiles will be dualband UMTS/GSM handsets (available late 2002?) and will be able to perform UMTS-GSM handovers. Current GSM phones will not work in 3G networks. Several SIM card manufacturers now offer cards compatible with 2G and 3G systems. Cellular3G, for example, will offer PCMCIA W-CDMA 3G-modem cards for PCs.

    3G cdma2000 phones will be backward compatible and will work in cdmaOne networks. Airprime, for example, offers CDMA2000 1xEV-DO PC cards for 3G networks.

     

    How many Base Stations are needed for an UMTS network?

    There are several factors:
    - Required coverage areas according to a license agreement (link budget will determine the cell spacing)
    - Required capacity according to license agreement and initial customer and operator demands.
    - Amount of frequencies carries have. (More frequencies, less interference, longer cell spacing)
    - Ability to get BTS site locations. (Normally co-location requirements with used 2G sites)
    - Financing available for network build.
    - Economical factor to build sites.
    - Design opinions and experience of companies and people bidding for the design job and eventually implementing the plan.
    - And probably in a long run the capacity, service, and coverage requirement from customers.

    Rollout will be very similar to 2G network rollouts. First phase of rollouts in UK size market will probably be 1000 base station in urban areas. Within 5 year about site count will increase to 5000 sites and eventually up to 10000 sites depending how successful the business is.

     

    How to calculate a WCDMA link budget?

    To calculate it you need to know:
    - Type of service (data type and speed)
    - Type of environment (terrain, building penetration)
    - Behaviour and type of mobiles (speed, max power level)
    - System configuration (BTS antennas, BTS power, cable losses, handover gain)
    - Required coverage probability

    Please see an example on Link Budget page.

     

    What are the UMTS frequencies and channel spacing?

    1900-1920 and 2010-2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA) Unpaired, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. Tx and Rx are not separated in frequency
    1920-1980 and 2110-2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, W-CDMA) Paired uplink and downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. An Operator needs 3 - 4 channels (2x15 or 2x20 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network.
    1980-2010 and 2170-2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink

     

    What are the UMTS air interface logical channels?

    Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
    Paging Control Channel (PCCH)
    Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
    Common Control Channel (CCCH)
    Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)
    Common Traffic Channel (CTCH)
    For complete listing of logical, transport and physical channels including directions and mapping see UMTS Channels page

     

    What are the UMTS data rates of the services?

    2.048Mb/s for pico-cell (and micro-cell) applications.
    384kb/s for medium size cells. (micro and small macro cells)
    144kb/s and 64kb/s for large cell applications. (Large macro cells)
    14.4kb/s for continuous low speed data applications in very large cells.
    12.2kb/s for speech (4.75kb/s - 12.2kb/s)
    9.6kb/s globally (satellite)

     

    How does UMTS paging work?

    First, get the latest 3GPP specifications 25-211, 25-304 and 25-331
    Note:
    PI = Paging Indicator (value calculated by higher layers)
    Pq = Paging Indicator (indicator set by physical layer)

    25-304 Chapter 8 shows how Paging Occasion and PI is calculated:
    Paging Occasion = {(IMSI div K) mod (DRX cycle length div PBP)} * PBP + n * DRX cycle length + Frame Offset Where n = 0,1,2… as long as SFN is below its maximum value.

    PI = DRX Index mod Np Where DRX Index = IMSI div 8192

    'In FDD mode, Np = (18,36,72,144) is the number of Page Indicators per frame, and is given in IE "Number of PI per frame", part of system information in FDD mode.'

    25-211 (FDD) Chapter 5.3.3.10 shows how Pq is calculated for channel mapping, the structure of paging indicator channel and the mapping of paging indicators Pq to PICH bits.

    25-331 is also worth reading.

     

    Which modulation scheme is being used in UMTS?

    UMTS WCDMA modulation is Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) with Root-raised cosine pulse shaping filters (roll off = 0.22)
    Read more about UMTS technical details from our UMTS WCDMA page

     

    Where can I find information about MAC and RLC protocols?

    Download and read 3GPP documents about RLC/MAC, start with 25 series. Documents also show message mapping to channels:

    Earlier FAQ Answer gives you some help how to download those

     

    How is data compression done in UMTS?

    Video and music compression will be done in application level. 3G phone (and network application servers) will have programs (or you will be downloading them) that records and displays video or music. Those programs have build-in data compression features. Good examples are MP3 and other music programs. MP3 codec includes data compression and most current music player understands it. For image and video there are several standards including JPEG, MPEG-4, H.263, Microsoft media player etc. available.

    From 3GPP 26.234 7.4 Video:

    ITU-T Recommendation H.263 [22] profile 0 level 10 shall be supported. This is the mandatory video decoder for the PSS. In addition, PSS should support:
    - H.263 [23] Profile 3 Level 10 decoder;
    - MPEG-4 Visual Simple Profile Level 0 decoder, [24] and [25].
    These two video decoders are optional to implement.

    NOTE: ITU-T Recommendation H.263 [22] baseline has been mandated to ensure that video-enabled PSS support a minimum baseline video capability and interoperability can be guaranteed (an H.263 [22] baseline bit stream can be decoded by both H.263 [22] and MPEG-4 decoders). It also provides a simple upgrade path for mandating more advanced decoders in the future (from both the ITU-T and ISO MPEG).


    Read more about video coding:
    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26111-400.zip
    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26911-400.zip
    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26911-400.zip

    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26233-400.zip
    ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/Rel-4/26_series/26234-400.zip

    Consider downloading the latest releases 5 (March2002) or release 6 (not yet frozen) files.

     

    Is there any interface from UMTS core network to other mobile networks?

    UMTS specifications do not have any special interface planned for other mobile networks, but all telephone networks can be connected to UMTS core network with standard S7 (or other) signalling system using E1s or T1s. Than enables voice calls to be made to all other telephone networks. If other networks support additional services like "call forwarding", "calling line identity", fax, slow-speed data ect, technically that is possible to implement this between networks.

    All telephone networks are designed to work with each other and UMTS networks will use standard interfaces towards all other networks. S7 and IP (internet protocol) will be the most commonly used interfaces standard, but all UMTS vendors can offer tens of different country-specific interface protocols if required.

     

    What will be a 3G Killer Application?

    Most people have their own view what the 3G Killer Application(s) will be. Some say that there will not be a single application, but a palette of services. Most likely there will not be only a single application that becomes very popular and at the same time makes a lot of money to the operator. Email, voice(!), messaging, music/video streaming are popular bets for money making applications. If you look any reports about 3G services, m-commerce and location based services are predicted to become very popular. Maybe the pricing will decide what will be a popular service.

    Old phrase is "The easiest way to predict the future is to invent it" will apply here. Operators and application providers have an opportunity to create their own killer applications.

     

    What are the UMTS Mobile Multimedia services?

    UMTS Forum's Market Aspects Group has identified seven common lifestyle attributes for mobile multimedia applications. Here is a list of possible type of services that will be available in 3G networks:

    Fun: WWW, video, post card, snapshots, text, picture and multimedia messaging, datacast, personalisation applications (ring tone, screen saver, desk top), jukebox, virtual companion / pet ...
    Work: Rich call with image and data stream, IP telephony, B2B ordering and logistics, information exchange, personal information manager, dairy, scheduler, note pad, 2-way video conferencing, directory services, travel assistance, work group, telepresence, FTP, instant voicemail, colour fax ...
    Media: Push newspaper and magazines, advertising, classified ...
    Shopping: E-commerce, e-cash, e-wallet, credit card, telebanking, automatic transaction, auction, micro-billing shopping ...
    Entertainment: News, stock market, sports, games, lottery, gambling, music, video, concerts, adult content ...
    Education: Online libraries, search engines, remote attendance, field research ...
    Peace of Mind: Remote surveillance, location tracking, emergency use ...
    Health: Telemedicine, remote diagnose and heath monitoring ...
    Automation: Home automation, traffic telematics, machine-machine communication (telemetry) ...
    Travel: location sensitive information and guidance, e-tour, location awareness, time tables, e-ticketing ...
    Add-on: TV, radio, PC, access to remote computer, MP3 player, camera, video camera, watch, pager, GPS, remote control unit ...

     

    Can UMTS mobile location be tracked?

    The wideband nature of the UTRA/FDD facilitates the high resolution in position location. The duration of one chip (3.84Mcps) correspond to approximately 78 meters in propagation distance. If the delay estimation operates on the accuracy of samples/chip then the achievable maximum accuracy is approximately 20 meters. There are other inaccuracies that will cause degradation to the positioning but 20 meters can be considered as best possible positioning performance. UMTS specifies that it will provide location information for mobiles to an accuracy of 50m. With GPS assistance, maybe even 10 meter accuracy is possible.

     

    When are the UMTS networks in service?

    Japan and Korea has 3G services running and in December 2001 two UMTS networks have been launched, but UMTS mobiles will arrive 3Q/2002. Quite a few UMTS networks will be launched in early 2003 in Europe.

     

    Will 2G / 2.5G phones be able to use all UMTS' applications?

    GSM (or other 2G) phones will not be able to use all features, because of data speed, build in memory and applications, display technology etc. Application providers and operators are very unlikely to try to implement complex feature to GSM, money is going to UMTS services. GPRS phone users will be able to use most of the UMTS services; probably only location based and very high rate data services cannot be implemented. But all this it depends on if operators want to implement those. All basic services like voice and messaging will flow between all systems.

     

    Which level of UMTS standard will the network be launched in 2002?

    All vendors have different software schedules and development status is a big secret. Now it looks like top vendors will probably have 3GPP Release 4 (with July 2001 correction) level software by the late 2002 launch date. (Some vendors were considering launching with '99 release in 2002)

     

     

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