SINGAPORE-Governments in Asia will issue licenses of third-generation (3G) cellular networks to around 40 operators in 11 countries within the next year, representatives from several equipment vendors said at the CommunicAsia show here recently. And 3G deployments may begin in the most advanced markets by the end of this year, according to Ron Spithill, president, Asia-Pacific, Alcatel.
“The 3G technology is basically available today,” he said at a press conference. “We need more handsets to be developed, and we need the licensing procedures to be sorted out.”
A representative of Nokia said the first wave of licensing would happen in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Although timing of trials and commercial rollouts are yet to be fixed, these leading countries in telecommunications terms are keen not to fall behind in the race toward advanced mobile networks, according to Spithill.
“As soon as someone makes a run at 3G, you will see others following quickly,” he said.
While waiting for 3G, deployments of mobile voice and data services using a variety of technologies are increasing rapidly throughout Asia, according to Spithill.
Alcatel signed a deal during CommunicAsia to conduct broadband wireless access network field tests in Singapore using local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) technology, and the company is getting a positive reaction to its first General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) trial in Hangzhou, China, Spithill said.
“The trial has been a positive experience, and we have received expressions of interest from several other provinces in China,” he said. “We expect to take some orders for GPRS in the second half of the year, and we think GPRS will be widely available in China.”
National carrier Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) began international roaming trials of GPRS mobile phone and data networks during the show. Its partners are Swisscom’s mobile division in Switzerland and Cable & Wireless HKT, Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) and Peoples Telephone Co. in Hong Kong.
SingTel Mobile is currently in the process of evaluating its GPRS tender and hopes to introduce GPRS in Singapore by the end of this year. The GPRS roaming tests are part of SingTel Mobile’s effort to offer enhanced roaming services to its customers, the company said. SingTel and Ericsson also demonstrated a number of live WAP services running on GPRS at the show.
The services to be demonstrated are what SingTel describes as “e-ideas,” a suite of mobile e-commerce services, such as electronic trading, banking and future services, such as electronic ticketing and games, that allows customers to perform wireless transactions using mobile phones, SingTel said.
“The industry has forecast a massive adoption of mobile Internet services in 2001 as GPRS-enabled mobile handsets become widely available …,” SingTel Mobile Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lucas Chow said.
SingTel’s competitor StarHub has chosen Nokia to build its GPRS and 3G networks, which will involve an investment of up to S$500 million (US$291 million), according to StarHub CEO Terry Clontz.
Nokia will provide the 3G and GPRS systems, with a GPRS trial targeted at the end of this year.
In less developed markets, activity still continues in the wireless market, with the rate of investment increasing as the region rebounds from the 1997-1998 economic downturn, according to Spithill.
Two weeks before the show, Alcatel signed a US$63 million deal to revamp Cambodia’s GSM network, while Vietnam is expected to launch its first CDMA network under an agreement with South Korea’s SK Telecom shortly.
