3G: 3rd Generation
Fixed or Mobile Wireless Radio Access Systems & Networks
EDGE, HSPA and LTE
Provide Mobile Broadband Advantage
Rysavy
Research Report Analyzes Wireless Technology Evolution to 3G and
Beyond
"GSM/UMTS
will comprise the overwhelming majority of subscribers over the next
five to ten years, even as new wireless technologies are
adopted. This is only one of the many reasons that EDGE, HSPA and
LTE will provide operators with a mobile broadband advantage,"
states independent research analyst, Peter Rysavy, President of
Rysavy Research and author of the white paper published today by 3G
Americas. EDGE,
HSPA, LTE: The Mobile Broadband Advantage discusses the
evolution of EDGE, HSPA enhancements, 3GPP LTE, the capabilities of
these technologies, and their position relative to other primary
competing technologies such as mobile WiMAX and CDMA EV-DO/UMB.
“The 3G evolution
of the GSM family of technologies is unmatched in terms of its
technology development coupled with a customer base of more than two
thirds of the 3G customers worldwide,” stated Chris Pearson,
President of 3G Americas. “As part of this roadmap, the HSPA
Evolution (HSPA+) will provide an advantage for GSM/HSPA operators
to maximize technology performance of existing UMTS/HSPA
infrastructure with minimal new investment.” Pearson added, “This
new white paper by Rysavy Research identifies the techniques to
leverage that investment.”
Building on a customer base of nearly 2.6 billion GSM/HSPA
customers, as of August 2007, 310 operators around the world were
using or deploying EDGE in their GSM
networks. With more than 250 operators in various stages of
deployment, UMTS is the most widely deployed 3G technology with more
than 138 million
UMTS customers worldwide across 181
commercial networks, of which 135 operators in 63 countries have
upgraded to HSDPA services. An additional 75 operators are committed
to the HSPA technology. HSUPA, the next step in the evolution of
UMTS/HSPA, has been commercially launched on seven networks in
Europe and Asia, with many more launches anticipated in the second
half of 2007.
Ten of the
key observations of the
EDGE, HSPA, LTE: The Mobile
Broadband Advantage white paper include:
- The GSM family of technologies
has an overwhelming global position in terms of subscribers,
deployment, and services. Its success will marginalize other
wide-area wireless technologies.
- EDGE technology has proven
extremely successful and is widely deployed on GSM networks
globally. Advanced capabilities with Evolved EDGE more than
quadruple current EDGE throughput rates.
- Continual HSPA enhancements are
planned. Beginning with enhanced uplink performance, advanced
receivers in the mobile and in the base station, and then MIMO,
these improvements will extend HSPA capability even further.
-
HSPA Evolution provides a
strategic performance roadmap advantage for incumbent GSM/UMTS
operators. HSPA+ (in 5+5 MHz radio allocations) with 2x2 MIMO,
successive interference cancellation, and 64 QAM is more
spectrally efficient than WiMAX Wave 2 with 2x2 MIMO and EV-DO
Revision B.
-
Compared to UMTS/HSPA/LTE,
competing technologies have no known significant deployment
cost advantages.
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
with HSPA will eventually add to voice capacity and reduce
infrastructure costs. In the meantime, UMTS enjoys high
circuit-switched voice spectral efficiency, and it can combine
voice and data on the same radio channel.
- The high spectral efficiency of
HSPA provides operators an efficient high-capacity network for
all services. In the longer term, UMTS/HSPA provides for a
clean migration to packet-switched voice.
-
LTE technical specifications are
being completed, and the 3GPP OFDMA approach matches or
exceeds the capabilities of any other OFDMA system.
-
Nearly all UMTS
handsets are also GSM handsets, so UMTS users can access the
wide base of GSM networks and services.
-
WiMAX is maturing and gaining
credibility, but it will still only represent a very small
percentage of wireless subscribers over the next five to ten
years. Meanwhile, GSM/UMTS operators are much more likely to
migrate to LTE.
As part of
the standards work on improvements in radio-access technology,
3GPP has also spearheaded the development of major
core-network architecture enhancements such as the IP
Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and the Evolved Packet System (EPS)
as well as developments in Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC).
These developments will
facilitate new types of services, the integration of legacy
and new networks, the convergence between fixed and wireless
systems, and the transition from circuit-switched approaches
for voice traffic to a fully packet-switched model.
Peter
Rysavy stated, "The GSM evolution to 3G and beyond will result
in a balanced portfolio of complementary technologies that covers
both radio-access and core networks, and which provides operators
with a cost-effective means to serve their customers any time, over
any device."
This white
paper EDGE,
HSPA, LTE: The Mobile Broadband Advantage, as well
its accompanying slide presentation, was created
collaboratively with Rysavy Research by the member
organizations of 3G Americas and is available for
free download at the
3G Americas' website:
www.3gamericas.org.
About 3G Americas:
Unifying the Americas through
Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G
Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless deployment
throughout the Americas of GSM and its evolution to 3G and
beyond. The organization fully supports the Third Generation
technology migration strategy to EDGE and UMTS/HSPA adopted by
many operators in the Americas that accounts for up to 85% of
next-generation customers worldwide. 3G Americas is
headquartered in Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America
and the Caribbean in Dallas, TX. For more information, visit
our website at www.3gamericas.org.
Glossary of
Terms
3GPP -
Third Generation Partnership Project
EDGE - Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Evolved EDGE or EDGE Evolution or EDGE + - further evolution of EDGE
EV-DO- Evolved Data Optimized
HSDPA - High Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSUPA - High Speed Uplink Packet Access
HSPA - High Speed Packet Access (both HSDPA and HSUPA)
HSPA Evolution, HSPA+ or HSPA plus - further evolution of HSPA
LTE - Long Term Evolution
MIMO - Multiple Input Multiple Output
OFDMA - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
UMTS/WCDMA - Universal Mobile Telephone Service/Wideband Code
Division Multiple Access
QAM - Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
VoIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol
WiMAX- Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
About 3G Americas: Unifying the
Americas through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the
seamless deployment throughout the Americas of GSM and its
evolution to 3G and beyond. The organization fully supports the
Third Generation (3G) technology migration strategy to EDGE and
UMTS/HSPA adopted by many operators in the Americas. The GSM
family of technologies accounts for 85% of wireless mobile
customers worldwide. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue,
WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas,
TX. For more information, visit our website at
www.3gamericas.org.
Vicki Livingston
+1 262 242 3458
vicki.livingston@3gamericas.org
www.3gamericas.org
Bellevue, WA, September 10, 2007
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