Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Why GSM is Ideal for Rural and Regional Mobile Operators

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 03:03:29 -0400

Executive Summary

Why GSM is Ideal for Rural and Regional Mobile Operators
GSM is the fastest-growing wireless technology in the Americas, with 59%
year-over-year growth from March 2002 to March 2003, according to the EMC World Cellular Database. Much
of that growth is the result of TDMA operators choosing the GSM family of technologies for
their transition from 2G to 3G. This choice is driven by GSM’s significant competitive advantages
and its clear evolution path to 3G.

For rural and regional mobile operators, a key benefit of the GSM path is the
potential for increased roaming revenue. With inbound roaming typically driving 22-33% of a rural
operator’s total revenue, choosing a 3G technology with the largest market share ensures that
roaming will remain a significant revenue source. With more than 847 million customers worldwide, GSM
offers the best opportunity for increasing roaming traffic in rural areas.

The reasons for GSM’s success include:

• Rich content, which is the result of mature, standardized, open interfaces

• Support for international roaming

• A vast selection of devices with a wide variety of feature sets and price points

• Faster time to market

• Technical advancements

GSM is building on its success with continuous improvements in voice quality and
capacity. The Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) offers nearly twice as much capacity as TDMA and
seven times more than analog. The new Adaptive Multi-rate (AMR) vocoder increases voice
capacity twice as much as EFR, and it also improves voice quality, especially on the fringes of a
cell and inside buildings.

By transitioning to GSM/GPRS/EDGE, rural TDMA operators can provide their
customers and roamers with advanced data services, including fast Internet access, e-mail, and

Virtual Private

Network (VPN) access to enterprise applications and messaging.

The transition from TDMA to GSM has proven to be smooth and cost-effective. GSM
850 infrastructure and devices are available today to allow deployment in existing
spectrum. GSMANSI 136 Interoperability Team (GAIT) devices are also available today which bridges
the technical differences between GSM and TDMA, thus allowing customers to utilize both
networks. By changing the TDMA network’s frequency re-use pattern, an operator can free up
enough spectrum to deploy a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network and improve TDMA quality of service in the
process. This approach means that the TDMA investment continues to generate revenue, while the
GSM/GPRS/EDGE network delivers data services that create new revenue streams.

This paper discusses the key issues and opportunities that rural and regional
mobile operators should consider when transitioning from TDMA to GSM. It describes GSM’s advanced
voice and data capabilities, its 3G-migration path and how these characteristics make
GSM/GPRS/EDGE the most attractive choice for TDMA operators.

http://www.3gamericas.org/PDFs/gsm_rural_operators_june2003.pdf
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