The two major developers of high-speed cellular data technology, Nokia and Ericsson, have opened a public argument over which has achieved the most success in terms of contract awards. The number of cellular operators that have placed orders for high-speed data infrastructure now amounts to more than 100, a surprisingly high number considering that the short- to medium-term availability of terminals remains highly questionable.
This air of disagreement between Nokia and Ericsson, while being commercially driven, has now filtered down to the operators. Some of the more aggressive operators in Europe have fired the first salvos in a war of words over which high-speed data technology option will be the first to provide a commercial platform and which provides the better solution.
Behind this unseemly behavior is the next big business opportunity for equipment developers and cellular operators alike: enabling and providing nonvoice services to cell phone users.
Technology options
To support these data services, operators are faced with adopting either High-Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology. However, while offering similar data speeds, these platforms vary considerably in their abilities to support certain applications and their impact on an operator’s existing infrastructure.
HSCSD. The key attribute of this technology is its ability to support real-time data, something GPRS cannot do. By its very nature of being circuit-switched, the user is assigned a dedicated circuit, or circuits, for the duration of the data call. This feature ensures the user has a predictable transmission rate to support applications that call for this capability, such as real-time video.
The high-speed data rates are achieved by employing a new channel coding scheme that increases the time slot bit rate from the existing 9.6 kilobits per second (kbps) to 14.4 kbps. HSCSD allows these time slots to be combined to obtain data rates in multiples of 9.6 kbps or 14.4 kbps, with a high point of 57.6 kbps spread over four channels.
However, this demand for extra channels is where HSCSD’s detractors aim their criticism, claiming it is not feasible to charge four times the price for a customer who runs at 57.6 kbps over four cellular channels.
This slur is countered by HSCSD’s supporters, who point to the relatively low cost of upgrading the network infrastructure-being predominately software only-and the fact that the complex, and somewhat delicate, billing system will not need to change radically as HSCSD data calls still will be measured on a “time connected” basis.
GPRS. Advocates of this technology loudly proclaim its network efficiency and easy integration into the world of Internet Protocol-based infrastructure and applications. The efficiency is achieved by GPRS’ technique of encapsulating the data into individual packets and transmitting them, together with other packets from other users, over the cellular network whenever there is capacity. This means the available transmission resource is shared by every GPRS user, allowing the maximum amount of traffic to pass through the cell.
But for operators that opt to implement GPRS, their number-one priority is its ability to support IP-based traffic and applications. U.K. mobile phone operator BT Cellnet determined 18 months ago that the Internet was going to be the key driver behind the growth in mobile data traffic and that GPRS was the only real choice.
However, these benefits are clouded by operators needing to rethink how IP traffic can be tariffed and billed. This issue is causing much heartache due to the complexities of running data billing in parallel with existing voice accounting systems and managing the intricacies of who, in an IP world, should be billed or conversely, given a share of the revenue.
User demand for data
Despite the pros and cons of each technology, operators seem very determined to launch high-speed data services. A fast-growing number claim to have already deployed the necessary infrastructure and are “about” to go live with commercial services. However, these launches appear to be more trials of varying size, as the operators test the technology and initial user reaction to the limited amount of available applications.
A major limitation for these early adopters is the very restricted availability of handset or data cards for either technology. The developers are being particularly coy about when volume shipments will begin, with best estimates being that HSCSD terminals will be seen mid-2000 and GPRS by very late next year.
But the comforting factors behind the pain of introducing this radically new technology are the positive forecasts from market analysts regarding the take-up of high-speed data services. The latest predictions from U.K.-based Ovum foresee business users dominating the user base for these services until 2005 when, soon after, a rapidly growing consumer market will overtake all other categories.
BT Cellnet’s head of commercial data developments, Stuart Newstead, is adamant this transition to high-speed data is not an evolutionary step. “It’s all about bringing the IP world to the mobile users. This move to IP, or what is being called 2.5G, will be a bigger revolution than making the eventual transition to 3G,” Newstead said.
