Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Carriers grin and groan as 3G migration starts

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 04:29:11 -0400

Carriers grin and groan as 3G migration starts
By Patrick Mannion
EE Times
28 July 2003 (3:37 p.m. GMT)

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Recent
announcements of 3G wireless-network
deployments in North America are a
hopeful sign for telecom but open a
Pandora's box for carriers. Already facing
falling revenue numbers per subscriber,
incumbent carriers adopting 3G must
contend with the attendant exponential
increase in data rates; the compounding
multiplicity of wireless interfaces and
associated protocols; increasingly
stringent quality-of-service requirements
to meet streaming-media demands; and
the security concerns that accompany
the shift from circuit- to
packet-switched networks.

Even as they migrate to 3G, carriers are
dealing with the integration of Wi-Fi
access to complement their wide-area
networks, as well as racing toward
push-to-talk service, which until now
has been a Nextel differentiator.

Both Sprint and AT&T Wireless (AWS) divulged their 3G deployment plans last week.
In the first and most lucrative deal, Sprint PCS announced that it had awarded
Lucent Technologies a $1 billion multiyear contract to upgrade Sprint's cdma2000
1xRTT network for enhanced reliability and coverage.  Lucent will provide Sprint
with the Flexent CDMA Modular Cell 4.0 and other advanced basestations; switching
equipment; related software; and advanced services, including installation,
integration, optimization and remote technical support.

Kathy Walker, senior vice president of network services at Sprint, said the
upgrade will lay the groundwork for an eventual migration to cdma2000 1xEV-DV, an
emerging standard that will allow data and voice to be loaded onto a single RF
carrier.
In the second deal, AT&T Wireless announced that it had selected Nortel Networks
and Ericsson as equipment vendors for what is expected to be the first
wideband-CDMA-based 3G wireless network in North America. The rollout follows
through on an agreement between AT&T Wireless and Japan's NTT Docomo for a joint
launch of W-CDMA service in four U.S. markets by the end of 2004.

The deployment follows the overlay of AT&T Wireless' original AMPS/TDMA network
with Global System for Mobile Communications service, General Packet Radio Service
and Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (Edge). That plan was announced in
October 2000. "We've completed the GSM/GPRS overlay, and we're on track to finish
Edge by year's end, at which point it will be ready for commercial use," said a
spokesman for the U.S. carrier.

"This is the first UMTS [Universal Mobile Telecommunications System] announcement
in North America for a major carrier," said Mark Morell, director of wireless
strategic marketing at Nortel, which supplies W-CDMA equipment to six of the top
European carriers.

Though AWS had planned to deploy W-CDMA in 13 markets, it reduced that to four
early this year when it realized that "the Edge service will probably meet the
needs of the market for the next couple of years," the spokesman said. W-CDMA now
is viewed as a complement to Edge.

Two of the four intended markets are definite, as laid out in the Docomo
agreement: Seattle and San Francisco. "Those are the two most technically astute
areas in the U.S.," said the spokesman. Dallas and San Diego are the top
candidates for the other rollouts, he said. Though financial details of the deal
with Nortel and Ericsson were not disclosed, the spokesman said that the cost of
the upgrade would be at least $60,000 per cell site.

Since the FCC has yet to open up a spectrum for 3G, AWS will deploy W-CDMA in the
1.9-GHz band with a bandwidth of 5 MHz.  Even so, said Nortel's Morell, it expects
to achieve rates of up to 2 Mbits/second, depending on traffic.

Though spectrum is limited, AWS points to the breadth of licenses it holds. "We
have the richest portfolio of any carrier in the country and can roll out W-CDMA
in 70 of the top 100 markets," the spokesman said. While AWS decided to leverage
the low cost of migration to Edge "for a buck or two a pop," he said, AWS' wide
portfolio will allow the carrier to overcome what Wayne Newitts, regional
marketing manager for test-equipment specialist Tektronix Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.),
sees as a threat to the incumbents from startup carriers offering 3G service in
remote locations.

"They can't compete with our coverage-and if we want that coverage area, we can
buy them," the AWS spokesman said, referring to the company's 2001 purchase of
TeleCorp PCS.

Amid the need for advanced testing of expensive 3G rollouts, carriers must contend
with burgeoning demand for Wi-Fi and push-to-talk (PTT) service, as well as meet
FCC requirements for local-number portability among carriers by Nov. 24.
To date, Nextel is the only carrier to have implemented PTT, over its proprietary
iDen network, using Motorola technology.  Many observers believe PTT service has
been key to the carrier's success and continued profitability during the downturn.

But Nextel's lock on PTT may soon be challenged. With many carriers scrambling to
get a version of push-to-talk out the door, Motorola said this month it plans to
open its PTT technology to other providers, including Verizon and Sprint. Only
last week, Motorola's Global Telecom Solutions Sector signed a deal with Fastlink
(Dubai, United Arab Emirates) that would make that carrier the first to implement
Motorola's GPRS PTT solution in the region comprising Europe, the Middle East and
Africa.  Fastlink is a joint venture between Motorola and Jordanian investors.

Motorola has GPRS PTT trials and demonstrations scheduled throughout the remainder
of the year with other wireless-network operators in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. Commercial launch of the company's GPRS PTT solution is targeted for 2004.
The system works with both GPRS and cdma2000 1x networks.

The urgency to bring PTT to market was highlighted in late June when Verizon sued
Nextel for spying on its PTT technology.  Verizon claimed Nextel had illicitly
acquired prototype PPT phones, tested Verizon's network and then passed the
results on to an analyst. The suit is pending.

AWS' spokesman said that his company will run trials of its version of PTT, most
likely in Seattle, by year's end and will have commercial service by the end of
2004. "We're doing it over the GPRS network, which is cheaper [than iDen]; but
because we also have roaming agreements with 30 carriers outside the U.S., we can
use PTT from Los Angeles to London, which has obvious advantages over Nextel's
U.S.-centric offering," he said.

The uptick in activity is weighing heavily on the test requirements for 3G
networks.

"When you get to 3G and true multimedia services, things get much faster and you
need a whole new level of equipment," said Tek's Newitts. "The problems start
moving up the OSI stack, so we're not troubleshooting at the switch or remote site
as much-though we still have to stress-test and load-test equipment before
deployment, which is challenging at today's speeds," said Newitts. Tektronix's
latest-generation network protocol analyzer, the K15, addresses some of those
concerns (see story, this page).

Carriers are also grappling with how best to incorporate Wi-Fi into their 2.5 and
3G networks. Despite initial fears, "Wi-Fi will not take over from 3G from a
commercial and technical standpoint," said Tektronix's Newitts. "They're
complementary, with both having strengths based on mobility."

AWS' spokesman agreed, saying that the company is on the Wi-Fi bandwagon. AWS has
installed infrastructure at Denver Airport and has deals pending at other
airports, as well as roaming deals in effect with WayPort and StayOnline. And only
last week, AWS signed a deal with PCTel Inc. that will allow AWS to use that
company's Segue Roaming Client software for secure, seamless Wi-Fi access.

For its part, Sprint announced last week that it plans to offer PCS Wi-Fi access
across the United States in over 800 locations by late summer, with over 2,100
locations planned by the end of the year. Also last week, British Telecom signed a
roaming agreement with U.S.-based Wi-Fi network manager Airpath Wireless Inc. that
will allow business users to access WLAN networks on both sides of the Atlantic.
That service will begin in September.

Verizon, meanwhile, has already Wi-Fi'd most of Manhattan, and T-Mobile has 2,700
hotspot locations nationwide.
Notably absent from the Wi-Fi carrier roster is Cingular Wireless, which has yet
to take a stance on the issue.

http://www.eetuk.com/bus/news/OEG20030728S0029

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