Mobile Wireless Communications Tomorrow (cont.)

by Puneet Gupta

They're Already Talking About 4G!

Several new standards have been proposed which don't fit into this classification of 2, 2.5 or 3G. These standards either provide only data services and/or provide much higher data rates than those specified by 3G systems. Examples are 1Xplus and 1XTREME. Since they use a single CDMA carrier they may be called 2.5G but then they provide much higher data rates than 3G. According to Motorola, 1XTREME will not require additional antennas as HDR will, and it will also keep data on the same spectrum as the voice services, meaning carriers won't have to devote any spectrum specifically to data services. 1XTREME is proposed to deliver the same voice capacity increases as standard 1X, and provide data rates approaching 1.4 Mbps. The second iteration, expected to be in trials by the first quarter of 2001, is expected to deliver data rates as high as 5.2 Mbps. Motorola expects 1XTREME to be market-ready in the same time frame as HDR: by the end of 2001 to the first half of 2002.

Another interesting thing is that these so called 4G technologies may start appearing almost at the same time when 3G comes. It is not very clear as to how these developments will influence an already very complex set of equations.

Concluding Remarks

Mobile communications are really poised to see major improvements in terms of capabilities of mobile networks. The next generation of wireless services, besides improving the overall capacity, will create new demand and usage patterns, which will in turn, drive the development and continuos evolution of services and infrastructure. While development of 3G networks will continue and pick up pace in the near future, the 2nd generation networks will keep evolving in terms of continuous enhancements and towards convergence of existing 2G standards. The initial 3G solutions should coexist with the 2G networks while slowly evolving to all 3G networks. While 3G in its true sense should have transparent roaming across all networks through out the world, given the penetration and the investments in the 2nd generation, true roaming (consistent service availability, across networks, independent of networks) looks to be to a very distant proposition!

References

[1] Yankee Group
[2] http://www.ovum.com/

The statements and opinions set forth in this article are solely those of the author, and not those of the author's employer.

About The Author: Puneet Gupta works for Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies in GSM/GPRS development. He has also been doing freelance technology writing for many magazines and newspapers. Puneet is currently focusing on areas related to mobile wireless data and associated technologies. He can be reached at puneetg@india.com.