With all three of Hungary’s mobile firms having settled on their 3G network providers, the new turbo speed networks are being rolled out on schedule, and are expected to be in use by the start of 2006 at the latest.
But what does all this really mean for the user?
According to Imre Boda, CTO of Ericsson Hungary Kft, 3G will pave the way for new mobile applications, as well as making existing applications more enjoyable through the higher data “throughput” and lower delays than at present.
Among the improved applications, internet and intranet access – i.e. accessing your office network via mobile – will feature strongly, says Boda, adding that 3G hardware is increasingly plentiful in supply.
“We see the number of available 3G-capable handsets and PC cards constantly increasing,” he says.
With current terminals available on the market, the highest possible download speed available on commercial networks is 384 kbps, said Boda. That’s pretty fast, but still short of what some of us call genuine broadband – as the speed of the fixed-line version will soon head up to more than three times that.
The available download speed depends on a number of factors, such as technology limitations, the distance from the serving base station, number of users in the cell, interference and other radio conditions.
At Hungary’s number two mobile operator, Pannon GSM Rt, construction of its UMTS 3G network is already under way. The company plans a commercial launch no later than the start of 2006, according to Dóra Somlyai, Pannon’s communications director. The company’s UMTS license allows for gradual implementation to be driven by consumer needs and responses, she says.
Hungary’s third mobile operator, Vodafone Hungary Rt – which entered the market half a dozen years after Pannon and market leader T-Mobile Hungary Rt (formerly Westel) – recently became the final mobile provider to commit to an infrastructure provider. At the beginning of May, it selected Nokia, concluding an agreement for the supply of a complete WCDMA 3G core network, which is expected to be operational at a similar time to those of its rivals. Siemens will supply Vodafone Hungary with radio transmission equipment to use in conjunction with the network.
Incidentally, Pannon is using Ericsson for the largest part of its network, though Nokia is also playing a supporting role. T-Mobile has also gone with Ericsson.
At the same time, both T-Mobile and Pannon have been busy stepping up the rollout of their EDGE networks – which serve as an intermediary between the second and third mobile generations, as well as complementing 3G.
T-Mobile Hungary CEO András Sugár recently emphasized the importance of EDGE at the press conference to announce the name change from Matáv to Magyar Telekom Rt. In addition to Budapest, EDGE will eventually be offered by T-Mobile in 33 cities by the end of this year. Some 15 towns and cities are already equipped so far – ahead of the planned date of the end of May.
For its part, Pannon’s mobile broadband network has been providing full coverage in the Budapest area since late March. Its EDGE network will be available in eight Hungarian cities – Debrecen, Kecskemét, Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, Pécs, Szeged, Székesfehérvár and Szolnok – by the end of May, while Lake Balaton and its surroundings will be covered by the beginning of the holiday season. Another 40 major Hungarian towns will join by the end of September.
As far as Pannon is concerned, a straight UMTS network is not designed to cover the entire country. EDGE will be the perfect supporting broadband technology for Pannon, says Somlyai. She explains that mobile broadband services will be available all around the country, and where UMTS coverage is weakening or lacking, EDGE will be the one that provides the necessary bandwidth.
Vodafone Hungary, meanwhile, is jumping straight to the third generation, bypassing EDGE.
Gathering speed
According to Ericsson’s Boda, 3G will be implemented gradually. This means that initially there will be “3G islands” on top of existing GSM/GPRS or GSM/EDGE networks.
“Smooth ‘interworking’ between the two technologies is vital,” says Boda, “When users move out of the area covered by 3G, the call or [download] session must continue on the underlying 2G network without noticeable interruption.”
Naturally, if such a handover occurs during data download, the download speed will be limited by the capability of the 2G network. Thus when changing from 3G to GPRS, the speed decrease will be greater than when changing from 3G to EDGE. Boda argues that EDGE will thus remain a good fallback solution for high-speed users when leaving an area of 3G coverage.
Boda stresses that Ericsson’s product development strategy pays special attention to various handover scenarios so that the complete network can be perceived by end users as one network, regardless of the access technology used.
According to Somlyai, besides providing general-purpose mobile internet access, the new technology will also allow video streaming to be utilized to the fullest – providing access to programs from RTL Klub and Cool TV, as well as pop videos and football highlights.
With the network only just having been implemented, and with just a few EDGE-compatible handsets in circulation thus far, EDGE users so far represent only a small percentage of Pannon’s customer base of 3 million, she adds.
“With the further rollout of the broadband network and the proliferation of suitable handsets, Pannon GSM will continuously expand the range of its services, and these will make an increasing number of customers exploit the benefits of the technology,” Somlyai predicts. She adds that Pannon’s non-voice revenue ratio is above 10% at present, and in the coming years the company is calculating on growth of a few percentage points each year.
The download speed of 384 kbps is just the beginning as 3G rapidly evolves, says Boda, noting that Ericsson was the first to demonstrate a whopping 11 Mbps downlink and 1.5 Mbps uplink data throughput on WCDMA networks with the enhanced version of 3G, known as high-speed downlink/uplink packet access (HSDPA/HSUPA).
Furthermore, Boda predicts, in later phases of “evolved 3G,” the maximum achievable downlink data rate could reach 14 Mbps, though he notes that this, again, will be worked up to in stages.
Source: BBJ
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30.05.2005