 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2006 |
| Article no.: | 14 | |
| Topic: | Wireless – transcending the digital divide | |
| Author: | Klaus-D. Kohrt | |
| Title: | Senior Vice President, Government and Industry Relations | |
| Organisation: | Siemens Communications | |
| PDF size: | 76KB |
About author
Klaus-D. Kohrt is the Senior Vice President for Government and Industry Relations at Siemens Communications. Since earning his PhD, Dr Kohrt has worked in the Siemens telecommunication business in various roles in Germany and abroad. His key expertise is in network architecture evolution. In 2003, Dr Kohrt took over government and industry relationship management for Siemens mobile. In this role, he serves on a number of industry committees; he is currently the Vice Chairman of the UMTS Forum. Klaus-D. Kohrt earned his masters degree and a PhD in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Article abstract
The positive impact of communications upon economic growth and the standard of living is well known. Because of the costs and difficulty of installing fixed-line communications, many regions of the world still lack effective, pervasive, communications. Modern wireless technology, quick and inexpensive to deploy, offers a solution. Today, almost half the world’s population has a mobile phone; new, more powerful and less expensive wireless technologies are speeding deployment and bringing an ever-greater range of service to the world’s remotest regions.
Full Article
Access to modern communications is a basic requirement for economic growth and social harmony. As an example, communications are deemed so important that the Indian Government, in drawing up a list of the ten key goals for national growth, put communications on a par with water and energy. That access to communications is an essential precursor for economic activity and growth is not in dispute. In studies carried out by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) it was found that a simple public pay telephone box in a remote village, which previously had no communications with the outside world, stimulated economic activity, increased employment and created new wealth. Unfortunately, some 25 years after the Maitland Report for the United Nations identified the importance of ensuring universal access to communications, the problem has remained largely unresolved. In many regions of the world, such as Africa, India, China and South America, there are still large numbers of people who do not have this access; indeed, hundreds of millions of people have never seen or used a telephone. This gap between the telecommunications ‘haves’, who have easy access to services, such as the Internet, and the telecommunications ‘have nots’, who do not, has been dubbed the ‘digital divide’, and until comparatively recently no viable solutions to bridging this divide presented themselves. Now, however, there is a solution – wireless technology. The benefits of wireless The reason that so many people remain unconnected to any kind of communications network is simple. The cost and effort required to deploy traditional copper or fibre cable networks to remote rural areas would be astronomical and would take decades. The lack of existing infrastructure, particularly electrical power, makes such a task almost impossible. With wireless technology, these problems are easily resolved. Wireless networks can cover large areas, regardless of the type of terrain, without the need to lay cables. There is no need to provide a wired connection to each household; anyone within the coverage area of the base station with a suitable terminal can gain access to modern digital voice and data communications services. Wireless base stations can be self-powered by a variety of methods. Most importantly, wireless networks can be deployed rapidly. A GSM network, for example, can be deployed and offering services within a matter of weeks, compared to the time needed to deploy a wireline network. Wireless, also, is extremely cost effective; with the highly competitive nature of the global wireless market, particularly in GSM, infrastructure costs are very low. Handset and terminal costs are also low and are likely to fall further. The Ultra Low Handset initiative driven by the GSM Association is targeting a sub-US$20 handset to open the market to low-income users. Wireless has proved its case beyond doubt. In the 25 years since the first cellular phone call, the global cellular market has grown to almost three billion, representing around half of the world’s population, and growth continues apace. Developments in wireless technology have produced an evolution from analogue cellular, to digital cellular – with the advent of GSM – and, now, the wireless world is moving towards IP, Internet Protocol. Delivering service to customers A number of key elements need to be in place for operators to provide communications to the ‘have-nots’. Most importantly, wireless services must be affordable as incomes are usually low in lesser-developed markets. Low cost handsets are essential and, as already indicated, the global wireless industry is addressing this through the Ultra Low Cost Handset initiative. Similarly, operators need to deploy their networks cost effectively keeping operational costs to a minimum. Often the business plans, which work for operators in mature markets, are not appropriate and considerable ‘thinking outside the box’ is required. Operators such as Bharti Telecom in India, where average revenue per user ARPU, is less than US$5 a month and falling, have set the pace with innovative ideas such as electronic topping-up. Operators in lesser-developed markets must also look to the future. In the early days of market growth, basic handsets offering simple voice and text messaging will meet the communications demands of their customers, but these demands will change rapidly. Subscribers will no longer be satisfied with basic communications; they will be looking for more advanced data and multimedia services. A further development will be the demand for personalisation, which is already occurring in mature markets. The mobile phone has become one of the world’s most common personal items. Many people would rather leave home without their wallet than without their mobile phone. With such strong connections to their phones, it is inevitable that the owners of mobile phones want to personalise them for their own requirements and tastes. Today, personalisation extends beyond such simple things as ringtones and wallpaper to applications such as personal service menus, which contain all the applications and services they need to fit their individual lifestyles. Operators in mature markets are already responding to this shift in demand and are offering an increasing range of services and applications that the end user can adapt and modify to his or her requirements. This demand for personalisation will soon be a factor that operators in lesser-developed markets will have to address. The big question for all operators is which wireless technology, from the ever-growing range on offer, is most appropriate for the delivery of advanced services and applications. Technology choices The reality is that in order to meet the demands of their customers for an ever-widening range of advanced services, operators will need to deploy a mix of wireless technologies, each having its own specific applications. The most widely used wireless technology is cellular radio, which over the past 15 years has undergone a trans-formation. From its introduction in 1991, GSM, Global System for Mobile Communications, has evolved from delivering voice and basic text messaging through GPRS, General Packet Radio Service, which first introduced packet switching, to 3G/UMTS, Universal Mobile Telecommuni-cations System, which offers the first truly capable data communications capability. The next evolution will be to HSDPA and HSUPA, which will deliver wireline data throughput speeds in both the uplink and downlink. Germany is one of the countries leading the evolution to High Speed Packet Access, HSPA, the term used to describe the implementation of both HSDPA and HSUPA. T-Mobile is already deploying HSPA technology to deliver high-speed data services to its customers in Germany and Austria. Vodafone in Germany is also introducing mobile broadband services at DSL speeds using HSPA solutions. The service, dubbed ‘UMTS Broadband’ will initially be offered in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich. Both the T-Mobile and Vodafone services will deliver download speeds of 1.8Mbit/s, a significant improvement on the 384kbit/s currently available. Cellular technologies offer many benefits to operators looking to deliver personalised services to their customers. Above all, cellular mobility lets you make and receive calls wherever you are, whenever you want. Another important benefit is global roaming which extends mobility from the user’s home network to any other GSM/3G (third generation) network worldwide. Today, for example, GSM users can use their phone in more than 130 countries. Of course, the global marketplace behind GSM and the technologies that build on GSM, ensure the availability of a massive range of cost-effective mobile phones. However, cellular alone may not be the answer to delivering the right service mix and operators need to look at other wireless technologies as well. The alternative wireless technology attracting the most interest these days is WiMAX, Worldwide Interoperabi-lity for Microwave Access. WiMAX is a standards-based wireless technology for providing high-speed, last-mile broadband connectivity to homes and businesses and for mobile wireless networks. WiMAX is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 specification for wireless high-speed internet access promoted by the WiMAX Forum. WiMAX offers a wireless alternative to cable and DSL, digital subscriber line, broadband access. It can be deployed as a wireless ‘last mile’ solution for fixed and mobile operators planning to deliver wireless DSL services to rural and remote areas where providing services by cable or fibre is difficult or uneconomic. The WiMAX specifications have evolved to support nomadic users and a new standard is being defined for mobile WiMAX users. Operators need to evaluate their technical options as the best solution will nearly always be a mix of different technologies which together deliver flexible solutions that meet users’ needs. Looking to the future The global wireless industry is constantly looking to the future, working to develop the next generation of wireless technology. As developing a new radio interface can take up to ten years it is obvious that, even as 3G reaches maturity and alternative solutions such as WiMAX become more widely deployed, work is already in progress to create the next generation. Although there is still much detailed research and development to be carried out, the overall picture of what will come beyond 3G in the 2010/2012 timeframe is already clearly outlined. Within the next few years, mobile networks will move away from having a core network accessed through a single air interface. Instead, mobile networks will have multiple wireless accesses connected via a unified multimedia IP network. The access networks connected to the common core will include 3G, WLAN, WiMAX, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, as well as fixed networks such as ISDN and DSL. This flexible approach will enable operators to use combinations of different access technologies to deliver a unique service mix for each customer. All of this will occur without the user’s knowledge of the technologies involved – intelligence in the network and devices will hide the technological complexities from the consumer. Operators are already planning to use a mix of cellular and WiMAX technologies to deliver services and this trend will accelerate in the future. Despite the ubiquity of GSM and other cellular technologies, there remain many millions of people who do not have access to communications. Wireless offers a solution to this problem, so over the next few years access to communications will become the norm rather than the exception. Those communications will initially be basic voice but, driven by demand from customers, operators will rapidly evolve their service offerings to deliver a true, personalised, communications experience to customers worldwide.
