Reliance Communications, China Telecom provide first terrestrial cable to directly connect China and India

HONG KONG: Reliance Communications and China Telecom have announced the opening of the first direct terrestrial cable link between the Chinese and Indian domestic markets.

The Reliance Communications and China Telecom constructed cable was the first cross border terrestrial connectivity project to be planned between India and China, and was completed earlier this month. The cable passes through the inhospitable terrain of the Nathula Pass, linking Yadong in China to Siliguri in India.

The cable will provide direct, enterprise class connectivity between all major Indian and Chinese locations as well as expanding high-bandwidth coverage to more rural regions and cities in both countries. Neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and even Pakistan and Bangladesh will also benefit in the longer term, through increased bandwidth availability and global termination options.

Reliance Globalcom, the global arm of Reliance Communications can now offer the additional protection of two separate cable routes between India and China with considerable less risk from natural disasters.

Both international businesses and consumers in the region will benefit from improved internet connectivity, lower latency and improved voice clarity calls. Previously, the only available option for high-bandwidth connectivity between the two countries was via undersea cable routes through Hong-Kong or Singapore.

The disruption to major international services in the region due to the recent typhoons and earthquakes has clearly exposed an associated risk with complete dependence on these cables. This new terrestrial link enables Reliance Globalcom to provide business critical service provision to its customers by offering dual cable route diversity between India and China for the first time.

“This announcement and cable connection is a landmark which represents many years of planning and hard work,” said Han YiHu, Managing Director of China Telecom. “We are very pleased with the increased dedicated bandwidth availability, connection speed and security this cable will provide to Chinese based enterprises and consumers. It will greatly assist our customers to become global industry leaders, while improving opportunities for international business development in both India and China.”

This new link increases the reach and diversity of Reliance Globalcom’s largest privately owned global cable network – by providing direct, dual cable route connectivity from emerging business locations within China to other international business hubs in Europe, Middle East and the East Coast US.

Similarly, Indian companies looking for connectivity to South East Asia, Japan and the West Coast US can now go via the terrestrial cable system to Hong Kong and then on a submarine route, enabling lower latency and improved network resilience.

“India and China represent the largest growing economies in the world, and the current global economic environment requires ever increasing high-bandwidth, converged applications to be run between these markets,” said Punit Garg, President, Reliance Communications.

“This new cable will help our customers across Asia and beyond to effectively compete on a global scale by providing increased network availability and secure connectivity from the world’s key business centres to these high growth markets. We are very pleased that Reliance Globalcom’s global network will play a major role in the development of international business opportunities in the region,” he added.

Yulong launches Coolpad N900 in China to combat iPhone

SHENZHEN, CHINA: Last week, Yulong, a mainland Chinese supplier of high-end smartphones, launched its 3G mobile phone, the Coolpad N900. Just as Apple is about to reach an agreement on entering the China market through co-operation with China Unicom, the new Coolpad N900 looms over the sales prospects of the iPhone 3G by winning itself the title "iPhone Killer".

Yulong Coolpad is a professional company specializing in research and production of high-end smartphones which offers a variety of high-end business phone products that are considered the best smartphones in the China market. Yulong introduced the first dual-mode dual stand-by technology in the world in 2005.

In recent years, the company has focused on developing the Coolpad brand, which is quickly emerging as a renowned local brand in China, and is seen as one of the major competitors of Samsung in the high-end mobile phone market.

Coolpad is launching its latest 3G mobile phone, the Coolpad N900, with CDMA2000/GSM featuring dual sim dual stand technology, which combines the stylish UI interface of iPhone's 3D Touch and is designed according to the usage habits of Chinese customers. As a flagship 3G product promoted by China Telecom and a bestseller in China, the model is especially favored by the Chinese business elite.

Li Wang, Executive Vice President of Yulong Coolpad, commented that with more high-end business consumers using more than one mobile number, dual mode dual stand-by mobile phones are expected to become more popular. Younger consumers have also shown a preference for fashionable and stylish functions and have high expectations regarding the convenience of their operation experiences.

Designed based on years-long research on the usage habits of high-end consumers done by Yulong Coolpad, the Coolpad N900 not only includes the latest and coolest TOUCH operation featuring a multi-intelligent interaction experience, it also has swift handwriting input capability convenient for Chinese consumers.

The model also includes other outstanding functions such as contact management and portable business office. The dual mode dual stand-by capability, pioneered by Coolpad, has become a standard feature of high-end smartphones. With comprehensive applications specifically geared towards Chinese consumers, N900 is unmatched in the current mobile phone market.

Guo Deying, CEO and President of Yulong, added: "One can interpret the Coolpad N900 as this -- as fashionable as the iPhone, as professional as the Blackberry, while at the same time, one of the most suitable mobile phones for Chinese users, all making N900 the 'iPhone Killer'."

According to a report by Ovum, a telecommunication consulting agency, although Apple's iPhone has not officially entered the China market, over one million iPhone handsets have already flowed into China through non-official channels.

Besides its cool interface, Chinese consumers have not truly experienced the value-added services offered by iPhone; also, the different usage habits of Chinese and Western users have impeded the using experience of Chinese users.

Entering the 3G era, applications of mobile phone content will become a field of major competition, but the iPhone Appstore's binding profit mode is facing great pressure from the Google Android camp. In China, where Chinese consumers are accustomed to getting free information and applications from the internet, iPhone's method of charging would definitely face great challenges.

According to research done by Analysys on usage habits in the Chinese market, more than 70% of consumers prefer downloading products and applications for free. Yulong Coolpad offers a free software supermarket for the Coolpad N900, which clearly caters to the internet usage habits of Chinese consumers. Compared with the iPhone, which charges fees, the Coolpad N900 Coolmart, which offers products free of charge, has a better chance in the Chinese market.

Amidst tense negotiations on the iPhone entering the China market, several key points are yet to be confirmed with China Unicom. According to Apple, to address the different consumption habits of Chinese consumers, products offered online are likely to undergo modifications upon entering the China market.

Positioned as a major competitor of the iPhone, the Coolpad N900 is expected to take away a fair share of the smartphone market, especially with the iPhone facing a tough entry into the Japanese market, which foreshadows the challenges of foreign brands entering into highly localized markets, such as China.

Spending in China propels Huawei to near tie with Alcatel-Lucent

UK: Ovum today announced its preliminary 2Q09 results for global optical equipment networking vendors. The global optical networking (ON) market, led by strength in Asia-Pacific markets, was $3.9 billion, up 11 percent sequentially, but down 9 percent compared with 2Q08.

“This marks the third consecutive quarter that the ON market has shrunk compared with the year-ago quarter, but given the global economic conditions we were not surprised,” remarked Ron Kline, Ovum’s Research Director, Optical Networking.

“Spending in Asia-Pacific remained surprisingly strong, driven by 3G network builds in China. The level of spending we’re seeing in China has disproportionally benefitted Huawei and ZTE, adding over a share point each to their market positions, and has brought Huawei to the verge of market leadership, an event we think very likely for 3Q09.”

Top 10 ON vendor share
Of the top 10 vendors, only Huawei and ZTE posted both sequential and year-over-year revenue gains, reflecting the surge in spending in their home market.

Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson posted sequential revenue gains but were still off 22 percent and 18 percent from the year-ago period, while Ciena, Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia Siemens, Nortel, and Tellabs all declined sequentially and year over year. Huawei and ZTE grew revenues by 21 percent and 62 percent, respectively, over 2Q08 due to 3G mobile-related aggregation spending in China.

“Alcatel-Lucent held on to the market lead with 20.7 percent annualized share, but Huawei picked up 1.4 percentage points to come within just 0.2 points of the market leader at 20.5 percent share,” said Kline.

“Given the continued strength of spending in China where Huawei is strong, favorable exchange rates, light exposure to North America, and access to capital, it’s only a matter of time before we have a new market leader.”

Mobile services to account for over 76pc of total services revenue in China by 2014

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets announced the addition of the "Communications Markets in China - 2009 Edition" report to its offering.

Fueled by mobile penetration into the rural market and by uptake of 3G services, China's telecommunications market will generate $187 billion by 2014, according to this latest report.

Communications Markets in China offers a precise profile of the country's converged telecommunications, media, and technology sectors based on proprietary data from our research in the Chinese market. It provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors the introduction and spread of new technologies such as WiMax, IPTV, and VoIP.

Published annually, this executive study provides a comprehensive view of the Chinese communications market by analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing upcoming risk factors.

China's telecommunications market generated US$110 billion in 2008, making it the second largest telecommunications services market in Asia/Pacific after Japan, notes Daniel Yu, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report.

"Given continued demand for connectivity and rising adoption of mobile and fixed broadband services, the Chinese market will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 8.8 percent between 2009 and 2014, reaching $187 billion by 2014, surpassing Japan as the largest telecommunications services market in Asia," Yu says.

"China, like many emerging markets, is becoming an increasingly mobile market, adding 71.2 million mobile subscriptions in 2008, roughly 12 percent of all additions worldwide and second only to India's 113.3 million net additions," says Yu.

Mobile service revenue growth will be supported by a penetration increase from 58 percent at year-end 2009 to 80 percent at year-end 2014. The author expects mobile services to account for more than 76 percent of total services revenue in China by 2014.

Despite the declining rate of growth in the economy, the author expects the mobile industry to experience healthy growth in 2009 as mobile operators roll out 3G networks and extend coverage to rural areas.

"China Mobile, for example, is dedicating 30 percent of its total Capex on 2G network expansion, and 70 percent of the allocated portion will be used in the rural market," Yu says.

Key findings of the report include:
* Chinese regulators restructured the industry in 2008, creating three full-service operators by consolidating fixed and mobile assets of China's five leading players.
* Although Pyramid Research does expect the reshuffle to help China Unicom and China Telecom to compete better against China Mobile, the giant's position will remain unshaken.
* 3G represents one of the most interesting opportunities in China in the near term. * In the next two years, Chinese operators will spend an estimated $41bn to develop the 3G market, presenting a golden opportunity for equipment and handset vendors.

LTE only road to wireless 4G in China

SCOTTSDALE, USA: Although competing 4G technologies will come to the fore in other countries, LTE will be the only route to 4G wireless service in China, reports In-Stat.

TD-LTE, one of the two flavors of LTE, will receive much more support than LTE-FDD in China. In 2010, China Mobile will use TD-LTE to construct a pre-commercial LTE network.

“China Mobile will be the first operator to launch commercial LTE operation,” says Anty Zheng, In-Stat analyst. “This will happen in limited areas in 2011. China Telecom and China Unicom will, we believe, follow China Mobile’s lead.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* 2009 is the first year of China’s 3G era in which three 3G technologies (WCDMA, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA) have been adopted by separate operators.
* In-Stat predicts that China’s LTE subscribers will number no more than 500,000 by 2013, and that 80% of these will be China Mobile subscribers.
* China Unicom and China Telecom will begin LTE network construction later than China Mobile, likely in 2012.

China Unicom chooses GyPSii for 3G mobile social networking

SALO, FINLAND & AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: GeoSentric Oyj, developers of the award-winning GyPSii mobile social networking application announced its partnership with China Unicom’s Shanghai Unicom, to become the premier mobile social network solution for its new consumer 3G SNS Service, UniSpace.

From today, over 5 million Shanghai Unicom customers are able to download the GyPSii client directly on to their mobile device from the UniSpace website.

This roll out will expand to 130 + million subscribers in China. As part of the GyPSii community, UniSpace members can immediately start to create “geotagged” content for sharing in “real-time” with friends, family and the growing global community of GyPSii members.

The content that UniSpace members create becomes true Internet-searchable destinations and experiences, available for all GyPSii friends and communities across the globe to immediately find, share and comment on.

“GyPSii’s ability to deliver an all-in-one, location-aware mobile social networking experience is proving extremely popular in China, with people using the application to create and share content, as well as connect with each other across a range of networks and devices,” said Lu Dongliang, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Unicom.

“With its fast-growing community and unique, intuitive user experience, GyPSii was the natural choice as a mobile social networking partner. We expect the new UniSpace offering to play an important role in driving the success of our 3G Value Added Service.”

GyPSii uses various handset location technologies -– including GPS, A-GPS and cell ID -– to allow Shanghai Unicom customers to automatically tag their location with photos, video, status updates and other information, for sharing their experiences in real-time.

GyPSii is available for UniSpace customers to use on a wide range of mobile devices, including Java, Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. Further mobile platforms will follow shortly.

"After GyPSii and Shanghai Unicom's success working together during the Olympics in 2008, we are delighted to deepen this important relationship and open up GyPSii to the wider community of Unicom's millions of subscribers," said Dan Harple, Executive Chairman of GyPSii. “Our goal is to have GyPSii on the world's most popular networks and devices, for mobile consumers worldwide to use and enjoy in all the world's most popular regions.

"Shanghai Unicom is an important and valued partner. Their 3G leadership in China, coupled with GyPSii's seamless “create, share, connect” model, provides a valuable new mode of communicating for Shanghai Unicom users. Our partnership truly enables Shanghai Unicom customers to create a new “people powered index” using GyPSii on their powerful 3G network.

"We look forward to welcoming UniSpace customers as new GyPSii users, who will use the application to connect and share their mobile lives with others. This, in turn, will help Shanghai Unicom to acquire new 3G customers, retain existing subscribers and importantly boost revenues."

The GyPSii application is already available worldwide on a wide range of devices, including the Apple iPhone, Samsung, Nokia, LG and BlackBerry Smartphones. New users can download the application directly.

China's TD-SCDMA market ushers in large-scale community-based testing and test business

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "2008-2009 Annual Report on China's TD-SCDMA Terminal Market" report to its offering.

Vendors involved include : ZTE, Samsung, Lenovo, Spreadtrum, Leadcore, T3G Technology, Chongqing Chongyou Information Technology, etc.

From the perspective of the development of national strategies, developing TD-SCDMA industry is very important. In 2008, China's TD-SCDMA market ushers in a large-scale community-based testing and test business; meanwhile, operation reorganization is orderly carrying through, which indicates that China will formally enter 3G era.

As one of global 3G standards and China's own intellectual property rights, after experienced a series of queries, with governmental supports and the industry chain led by China Mobile, the industry is gradually mature, which includes operation, equipment, terminal, chip, testing and channels.

China Mobile has started up two round TD terminal tenders with 300,000 sets, TD-SCDMA mobile phone market development opportunities should not be underestimated.

In the face of changes and challenges of competition and market, release of 2008-2009 Annual Report on China's TD-SCDMA Terminal Market helps vendors, investors and industry insiders grasp more accurately laws governing the markets development and in combing the development track of application value.

Scientific, authoritative and objective TD-SCDMA terminal products' monitoring data: On the basis of in-depth research in leading vendors main product lines, it depicts the changes in the market from the angle of product structure, price structure, network development and channels, and clearly identifies operations' business hall's characteristics and channel strategies.

China’s mobile handset market expands by 9 percent in Q1

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Driven by government stimulus programs and purchases for the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s domestic mobile-handset shipments in the first quarter of 2009, up 9 percent from 53 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008, paving the way for growth for the entire year, according to iSuppli Corp.

Sales of brand-name GSM-based mobile handsets amounted to 44 million units in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 42 million in the first quarter of 2008. Branded CDMA-based wireless phone sales reached 5.8 million units in the first quarter, up 200 percent from the same period in 2008. Domestic white-box handset sales amounted to about 8 million units during the same period, compared to 10 million in the first quarter of 2008.

iSuppli forecasts that China’s domestic handset market will amount to 238.9 million units in 2009, up 7.8 percent from 2008.

The figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of China’s domestic mobile handset market, based on unit shipments.

iSuppli: Forecast of China’s Domestic Handset Market Unit Shipments, 2009-2013 (Millions of Units)Source: iSuppli, June 2009

“The first quarter is typically strong for China’s mobile-phone market due to purchases made for the Lunar New Year Holiday in January,” said Kevin Wang, director, China research, for iSuppli.

“At the same time, shipments were further boosted by demand generated from China’s stimulus programs that encourage the purchasing of electronic products. Ongoing reductions in voice-service fees and declines in average handset selling prices will assure stable growth in China’s mobile subscribers during the next five years.”

The net addition of mobile subscribers for the nation’s three wireless operators—China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom—amounted to 20 million, 5 million and 4 million, respectively, during the first quarter.

Tianyu takes third rank in Q1
Local brand Tianyu in the first quarter surpassed Motorola to become the third largest mobile handset supplier in domestic sales. Nokia and Samsung remain the leaders in the domestic market, with market shares of 34 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have continued to lose market share during the past four quarters, while

local-brand OEMs such as Goinee and OPPO have continuously gained market share.
In terms of total handset shipments, ZTE in the first quarter became the largest Chinese handset OEM, with 7.2 million units shipped. Rival Huawei shipped 6.6 million handset units, putting it in the No.-2 position in the market.

Huawei, however, is the largest data card supplier in the world, and its data card shipments reached 5.1 million units in the first quarter this year. iSuppli believes that ZTE and Huawei will continue to grab market share from the international top five, especially in the developing countries.

Mobile phones get smart
With the introduction of 3G services in the country by China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, 3G service brands dubbed G3, e-surfing and WO are being promoted by the Chinese telecom operators. At present, data cards and netbooks are the main products offered by operators for 3G service users, but iSuppli expects growth in the domestic 3G handset market to accelerate in 2010.

With smart phones lining up to become the hottest mobile handset products during the next two years, operators also hope to leverage smart phones to promote 3G services in China.

For its part, China Mobile has cooperated with local handset makers to develop an Android-based TD-SCDMA smart phone named OPhone. In a parallel move, China Unicom has joined the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), while most leading Chinese handset makers are developing smart phones based on the Windows Mobile or Android operating systems.

Digital mobile TV is one of the most popular features for mobile handsets. China Mobile and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) will jointly promote TD-SCDMA terminals using the China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) function in China. Beyond CMMB, Wi-Fi, GPS and NFC will become new popular features in China.

SMEs in China: Promising in mobile UC

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: With a strong domestic market, SMEs in China are less exposed to the global economic climate than most of their counterparts in other countries. As a result, they expect to continue spending on telecoms during the downturn.

“They are price-sensitive and are more likely to adopt managed and hosted services in order to avoid up-front capital investments, however we recommend caution when looking at these expectations”, said Claudio Castelli, Senior Analyst based in Melbourne.

"Even in China, economic growth is slowing considerably. At some stage it is likely that cash-strapped SMEs will look to cut costs and that budgets may not be converted into actual spend”, advised Castelli.

Mobility is growing fast among SMEs in China -- currently 61 percent of their employees have some degree of mobility; but this high level of mobility is not yet reflected in expenditure on mobile services. As is the case in most Asian countries, SMEs in China don’t supply mobile devices to their employees; mobile users supply and support their own personal mobile devices when at work.

“We believe this practice has a high degree of risk for the business”, added Castelli. However this scenario is likely to change, as SMEs expect their expenditure to grow more on mobile services than on fixed services. “Moreover, recent reforms in the Chinese telecoms market and the release of 3G licences nationwide will promote more services and competition, further accentuating this growth”, he adds.

SMEs in China are also expecting to adopt new mobile applications. Considering the magnitude of the Chinese market, this is a major opportunity for vendors and service providers.

Mobile email has the highest potential to grow, while other promising mobile applications include mobile IM and mobile multimedia, which offer great opportunities for mobile UC providers. Applications that address the specific needs of mobile workforces, such as tracking of goods or vehicles, field service automation and sales force automation, will also be in demand.

In addition, there are a few companies deploying specific solutions for people moving around within the workplace, and we see potential for fixed–mobile convergence (FMC) solutions.

Many SMEs are willing to deploy PBX-like features on their mobile phones -– some expect these to be provided by a mobile service provider while others expect to deploy them at their own premises. However, it will be difficult to deploy integrated solutions based on users’ personal devices. “SMEs will need to take full control of their mobility solutions, including mobile devices”, concludes Castelli.

CDMA subscriber base closes in on half a billion!

COSTA MESA, USA: The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that high-growth markets such as Africa, China and India are raising the number of CDMA subscribers worldwide closer to half a billion.

At the end of the first quarter of 2009, there were 480 million subscribers to the CDMA family of technologies worldwide, including 472 million 3G CDMA2000 and 120 million EV-DO broadband users.

During the quarter, China Telecom began offering EV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) services while expanding its CDMA2000 network in China, resulting in the addition of almost 5 million new customers. India continued its strong growth as the second-largest CDMA market, with operators in the country adding over 9 million new customers during the same period.

CDMA2000 continues to thrive in Africa, with nearly 50 CDMA2000 operators adding 3.5 million new users during the quarter. The growth from these emerging markets supplemented steady gains in North America, which in the same period, added 5.8 million subscribers.

"CDMA2000 is seeing rapid growth in those markets that have embraced 3G mobile broadband, as the migration to 3G CDMA accelerates worldwide," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "Markets such as China and India are creating economies of scale that will further reduce handset prices, increase wireless penetration and contribute to bringing new 3G-enabled devices to market, such as netbooks and smartbooks."

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
CDMA2000 broadband service providers worldwide added over 23.5 million EV-DO users from March 2008 to March 2009, representing a 24 percent increase. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a leading mobile broadband technology worldwide, with 134 operators in 63 countries offering always-on CDMA2000 broadband data services to 120 million users.

Sixty-two of these operators have deployed CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A networks to offer advanced mobile broadband services, and another 37 operators are in the process of deploying Rev. A. Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw a notable increase of 4.5 million EV-DO subscribers over the past year, growing from 1.6 million to 6.1 million total subscribers, representing an annual growth rate of 277 percent.

The rapid uptake of EV-DO broadband services in Africa, rising from under 200,000 EV-DO users a year ago to 3.5 million current subscribers, highlights the pent-up demand for broadband wireless access.

Operators in the Americas and Asia also continued impressive gains with EV-DO, driven by a wider availability of mobile broadband-enabled devices and the increased usage of smartphones and feature phones.

North American (US and Canada) operators added 16 million new EV-DO subscribers over the past year at a 31 percent growth rate, while Latin America and Caribbean users increased by 41 percent to surpass 6 million and subscribers in Asia Pacific approached 40 million.

CDMA2000
Overall, 17 million new CDMA2000 subscribers were added during the first quarter of 2009, contributing to the 38 million new users added between March 2008 and March 2009. Europe, Africa and the Middle East continue to be the most rapidly-growing regions for CDMA2000, adding 16 million CDMA2000 subscribers in the past year representing a 96 percent growth rate.

In the first quarter alone, operators in the region added more than 4.6 million customers and Africa, the fastest growing market, now comprises 5 percent of the global CDMA2000 market share. This is a strong testimonial to CDMA2000's ability to excel in emerging markets underserved by wireline telephony and broadband data services.

At quarter's end, Asia Pacific accounted for 52 percent of the global CDMA market, adding 13 million new CDMA2000 subscribers during the period. China Telecom ended the quarter with 33 million CDMA customers and has stated its goal to add 35 million CDMA2000 customers in 2009, supported by strong marketing efforts and a wide selection of handsets and devices for both CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO services.

North America saw an addition of 16 million new CDMA2000 users over the year to reach 154 million subscribers. CDMA accounts for more than 52 percent of the US wireless market and India expects to double its CDMA2000 subscriber base within the next two years.

Growth despite recession proves people need benefits of broadband

SINGAPORE: Broadband has become a necessity for people around the planet –despite the economic downturn. That’s the message delivered in Singapore today by Broadband Forum Chief Operating Officer Robin Mersh.

Mersh was giving a keynote address at the giant CommunicAsia conference and exhibition in Singapore, where more than 2,000 exhibitors were gathered to discuss and debate the latest issues surrounding telecom and broadcast technology.

“Broadband is no longer a luxury in the home –- it is a necessity -– and we are seeing that despite everything going on in their lives, people are depending on their broadband,” he said.

“This is an extremely positive sign for the industry, although we must not be complacent and the next quarter’s market penetration figures will give us further evidence, or otherwise, of the rise of the broadband phenomenon.”

Mersh backed his view by highlighting the latest statistics for broadband and IPTV which were published earlier in the week. He pointed out that 20 countries had grown their broadband by 10 percent or more, with India and China particularly showing potential. IPTV’s growth to 24 million lines was also helping broadband reach the next level.

He explained that while new technologies were coming onstream to support broadband, DSL remained stable and ADSL2+ had in fact seen the highest technology increase of all the access options.

Broadband lines in the world are now approaching 430 million. India experienced the biggest growth percentage at 13.4, while China added 4.8 million lines, to top more than 88 million lines.

Mersh told the audience of top ranking telecommunications figures from across Asia that for fast broadband rollout and effective network management, operators needed three things -– a single architecture across all transport options, a single WAN management protocol and common Quality of Experience (QoE) measurement specifications.

“The consumer doesn’t care how the service is delivered –- they just want to know it’s dependable and that they can buy their service with confidence,” said Mersh.

He explained that the Forum, which has around 200 of the world’s top operators and equipment and chipset vendors among its membership, focused its work on three main areas.

The first was the network, which included core, access aggregation and last mile options. The second was management specifications, which focussed on operational excellence, and the final area was remote management of the user, which spanned from digital homes, offices and cell towers.

He also called for standards bodies to follow their initiative in co-operating among themselves and highlighted the work the Forum recently completed in cooperation with 3GPP and the Femto Forum, which resulted in the first industry standard for Femto Access Point management.

GyPSii launches Java version into China

SALO, FINLAND & AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: GeoSentric Oyj’s GyPSii business unit, developers of the award-winning GyPSii mobile social networking application, have launched the Java version of its application, with both Chinese and English language support.

GyPSii created the Java application with the Chinese mobile consumer firmly in mind. Many Chinese users’ first and only access to the Internet is via a mobile device, and the new GyPSii Java app will appeal to the 70% of the 650 million phone owners in China who own Java-based phones.

GyPSii is already locally available in China for the major operators China Mobile and China Unicom, for download on compatible Java phones. GyPSii is also available globally across a wide range of devices, including Samsung, Nokia, LG, Apple iPhone and Blackberry smartphones.

“The arrival of GyPSii on Java is another milestone for us, which broadens the choice across all mass-market devices that consumers can use and enjoy GyPSii on -– alongside the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry (RIM), webtop and netbook applications already in our portfolio,” said GyPSii’s Chairman, Dan Harple.

“Our GyPSii members in China are already extremely active mobile social networkers. With Java platform compatibility, they are now free to create, share and connect with the rest of the GyPSii community -- across even more devices and networks, at anytime, from any location,” added Harple. “We plan to expand our reach on Java platforms into other countries, extending our mass market coverage further on a global basis”

GyPSii delivers an all-in-one mobile lifestyle experience -– featuring simple to use content creation tools, social networking capabilities, and location context. It allows people to instantly capture and share what they are actually doing in their daily lives, building a multi-media virtual world –- the places they have been, the things that they are doing and where they are going.

Utilising a wide range of location and multimedia creation technologies for today’s mobile phones, GyPSii empowers people to share their experiences as they happen - including with photos, video, comments, status and information captured and uploaded from their mobile phone, with location context.

Jeff Lin, GyPSii’s Managing Director APAC added: “With GyPSii, you can share what you are doing or planning to do in real time with your community of friends and followers, who are then free to respond and comment, instantly without having to wait until they’re next sitting at their PC. We expect Java phone owners to quickly become GyPSii fans and use the application to record their lives and stay connected to their communities -- no matter what network or devices they use.”

The GyPSii application is already available and can be downloaded directly onto your mobile at www.gypsii.com/m and http://gypsii.com.cn/m (for a full list of supported devices). Java phone owners in China can now download the new Java application from GyPSii at http://wap.gypsii.com.cn.

CDMA2000 bringing 3G services to China on massive scale

BEIJING, CHINA: At the inaugural CDMA World Forum, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) commented that new 3G wireless voice and mobile broadband service offerings in China are poised to rapidly replace fixed-line solutions, exemplified by subscriber adoption of China Telecom's CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO Revision A (Rev. A) mobile broadband services.

China Telecom is now offering fixed and mobile broadband data services under its "e-surfing" brand, in addition to its existing CDMA2000(r) 1X voice and data services. The operator has already launched 3G CDMA mobile broadband services in more than 120 cities, with plans to cover 324 cities nationwide by July 2009.

By catering to its long-standing enterprise relationships, leveraging its large existing fixed-line customer base and focusing on offering mobile Internet services, China Telecom added 6.8 million CDMA2000 customers in the first four months of 2009 to reach a total of 34.71 million CDMA subscribers.

"China Telecom is showing market leadership through its commitment to bringing 3G CDMA services to China and communicating the value of CDMA2000 voice and mobile broadband services to the Chinese consumer," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "A wide selection of affordable 3G CDMA devices is helping China Telecom realize phenomenal subscriber growth, as it leverages the CDMA2000 network to offer wireless voice and broadband data services to both new and existing customers."

Since the restructuring of China's telecom industry in 2008, the country's three wireless operators have been investing heavily in 3G networks across three technologies. China Mobile plans to invest $8.6 billion to expand its TD-SCDMA network in 2009, while China Unicom plans to put $5.6 billion into its recently-launched WCDMA network this year.

China Telecom has announced it plans to spend more than US$11.7 billion on CDMA network expansion and optimization over the next three years, while procuring 55 million CDMA2000 handsets in 2009 to support this rapid growth.

The China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) expects 3G wireless subscribers in the country to exceed 500 million within the next 3 years, as affordable mobile broadband services replace fixed-line Internet services and expand to rural areas.

Furthermore, an MIIT report predicts that Chinese CDMA subscribers will experience a 30.6 percent compound annual growth rate over the next four years, and that EV-DO subscribers will account for 41.1 percent of China's 3G subscriber base by 2012.

EV-DO Rev. A delivers average download speeds of 600-1400 kbps with bursts up to 3.1 Mbps and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps with bursts up to 1.8 Mbps.

According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China's Internet penetration rate at the end of 2008 was at 22.6%, surpassing the global rate of 21.9 percent. China's Internet user base was at 298 million users with 279 million broadband users, while the mobile Internet user base doubled in 2008 to surpass 117 million users.

As 90 percent of all Internet users in China are also mobile users, there is enormous growth potential for EV-DO services in the mobile Internet market. This bodes well for China Telecom since its 3G network will be optimized for economical, high-speed broadband performance, and the operator will be able to offer mobile broadband data services to China's large and underserved population at attractive prices.

China: Telecoms, mobile, broadband and forecasts

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "China - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts" report to its offering.

The Chinese telecommunications market is the largest in the world. With the mobile sector still expanding at over 15 percent going into 2009, and the long-awaited licensing of 3G services completed after finalising the industry restructure, the market is poised for yet another boost amongst what is hoped to be a more level playing field.

The importance of the regulatory regime must not be underestimated in a market like China, where political and commercial considerations are closely intertwined. China's telecommunications industry experienced much disruption during 2008.

In early 2008, massive snow storms, the worst in five decades, caused widespread disruption to telecom services. The snow storms killed at least 60 people and left tens of millions to experience a cold, dark Lunar New Year holiday. In excess of 33 million fixed and mobile services were cut and direct economic losses incurred as a result of the fierce snowstorms.

Then, later in the year, a major earthquake struck near the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu. The 7.5 magnitude quake resulted in thousands being evacuated from buildings in Beijing, some 1,500km from the epicentre. These natural disasters tested the networks of the major telcos, not to mention their disaster recovery response times.

Despite these testing events, the market continued to experience healthy growth. Not even the global financial crisis could stall the profound growth that has been the phenomenon of the China market in the last decade.

The networks withstood the onslaught of the Olympic Games and although uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the international press and the media glare due to China's strict enforcement of Internet regulations, the country's networks were robust and successfully beamed coverage of the major sporting event worldwide.

China surpassed Japan in 2004 as the market with the second most broadband lines after the US. In mid-2008 China became the largest broadband market in the world, finally passing the US. Going into 2009, China's broadband subscriber population passed the 80 million milestone. China has also become the top DSL market in the world. Despite this huge subscriber base, penetration remains comparatively low, meaning there is still much room for growth.

Global mobile phone shipments decline 15.8 pc in Q1

FRAMINGHAM, USA: The worldwide mobile phone market began 2009 with an expected sequential downturn, exacerbated by the challenges of the ongoing worldwide recession.

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 244.8 million units in the first quarter of 2009 (1Q09), approximately 15.8 percent lower than the 290.8 million units shipped during 1Q08.

The first quarter of a new year is typically characterized by seasonally lower shipment volumes following a busy holiday quarter with channels clearing out excess inventory. However, the 1Q09 decline was especially sharp due to weak end-user demand, currency volatility, and lack of credit for merchants as consumers and the supply chain adapt to the recession.

"That the worldwide mobile phone market started off 2009 with a year-over-year decline highlights just how much the economic recession has affected all industries, including the wireless market," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "The market continues to adapt to the new economic reality with both vendors and retailers exercising caution to remain profitable. In some cases, this has meant holding less inventory, or even reducing headcount. Fortunately, new features and demand for phones will help the market resist the financial pressure. We expect to see further year-over-year declines worldwide, even as some regions show signs of improvement."

As the overall market dropped 15.8 percent in 1Q09, converged mobile devices (commonly referred to as smartphones) continue to grow year on year at 4 percent. Growth within this segment was evident in Western Europe, North America, and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan). Mobile operators have become progressively more open to raising subsidies within this segment as dependence on data revenue has increased as a result of reduced consumer demand for new handsets.

"Creativity appears to be the key to success for large mobile operators during this tough time as changes to business practices from past years have become necessary," says Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker. "Some of the big operators in mature markets have shifted product portfolios, and some have smartphones accounting for as much as 50 percent of the entire handset offering. We believe this strategy will continue, along with an increase in devices that are media and messaging centric, to help operators maintain revenues."

Regional analysis
Shipments of mobile phones into North America started the year slightly higher than the same quarter a year ago even as the economic recession bit deeper into the United States and started to impact Canada. Carriers' efforts to lure customers with unlimited plans and free device promotions helped offset a sharper decline, even in the face of slower subscriber growth.

Converged mobile devices at lower price points helped stimulate consumer interest in the midst of the economic recession, providing a needed boost to shipment volumes.

As expected, the Latin American mobile phone markets took a negative turn in 1Q09 as most of the economies in the region began to see slower economic growth. In addition, local currency devaluation drove prices higher on imported phones, reducing demand. This has not deterred future plans of enterprise customers, who have voiced interest in increasing spending on mobile devices in 2009.

Much of the Western European handset market was characterized by weaker consumer confidence and lower demand, while channels, already holding low inventory, were reluctant to re-stock. This set up challenging conditions for vendors in both the traditional mobile phone and converged mobile device spaces.

Meanwhile, the CEMA market posted some positive news, as much of the inventory was cleared at the end of 2008. Shipments into the Middle East and Africa contracted at a slower pace in 1Q09, while demand in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia decreased rapidly due to currency devaluation.

Asia/Pacific: In a difficult economic climate, China and India offered signs of encouragement in 1Q09. India reported strong subscription additions during the quarter, while China's rural subsidies have helped to prop up handset demand. Still, with growth coming increasingly from lower-end segments in the region, phone makers will find their average selling prices and profit margins challenged.

Vendor highlights
Nokia saw its shipment volumes dip below the 100 million unit mark for the first time in two years, while its ASP slid due to pricing pressure and greater emphasis on lower-priced devices.

Despite these challenges, Nokia posted a healthy 33.8 percent gross margin on its devices and services, with the success coming from the 5800 XpressMusic device as well as the launch of several services including Comes With Music, Nokia Messaging, Ovi Store, and Point and Find.

Samsung returned to double-digit profitability to start the year, resulting from improved operating efficiencies and a favorable product mix for the quarter. Samsung's strong position in feature phones sustained interest during an otherwise quiet quarter, with touch devices like the F480 and messaging devices like the A767. Samsung also recently announced its first Android-powered device, the i7500, due to hit the European market in June.

LG Electronics began the year on a positive note, posting an increase in operating margins despite a year-over-year decrease in shipment volumes. Driving its improvement was a combination of cost, supply chain, and operational efficiencies as well as warm reception for its touch screen, messaging, and digital imaging devices.

Even as the recession continues, the company is targeting double-digit sequential growth in 2Q09 with the release of high-end models to key regions as well as low-cost devices into emerging markets.

Motorola, although posting another quarter of operational loss, showed signs of improvement to start 2009. Co-CEO Sanjay Jha underscored the company's operational effectiveness and cost savings, noting the reduction in operational loss compared to the previous quarter.

In addition, Jha highlighted plans to add more smartphones to its portfolio before the end of the year. During the quarter, Motorola launched its Evoke QA4 and MOTOSURF A3100, as well as the industry's first eco-friendly device, the MOTO W233 Renew.

Sony Ericsson saw its market share decline as several key markets moved away from mid- and high-tier devices towards low-cost devices, where the company does not compete. Meanwhile, the company continued to build its content and services platform, with roll out of PlayNow Plus, Movies, and Arena across Europe. Although Sony Ericsson has been implementing a cost reduction plan since the summer of 2008, President Komiyama cited further need to reduce costs and headcount.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 2009
(Units in Millions)Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, April 30, 2009
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Telepresence grows in Asia-Pacific: Ovum

UK: Telepresence was a global vendor (Cisco/Tandberg/Polycom), global service provider (AT&T/BT/Verizon Business) story. That changed recently when Hong Kong-based CPCNet launched a managed high-definition (HD) video conferencing solution, VC2, and China’s Huawei Technologies launched its own line of telepresence equipment.

Separately, SingTel has been giving visibility to its Managed HD Video Conferencing Service, which launched at the end of 2008 and which now includes telepresence.

Global managed telepresence offers from AT&T and BT have had limited reach into the Asia-Pacific region as the operators build up network operations centre capacity to support inter-carrier and inter-company video networking. Now regional enterprise users will have potentially even more choice than counterparts in Europe and the Americas, with the emergence of these regional players.

CPCNet’s VC2 solution is provided through a range of CPE devices and allows laptop access to the conference room. CPCNet provides the managed network connectivity to maximise the efficient use of the network for video traffic at the same time as integrating different bandwidths to provide HD quality video to all participants in the conference.

The new solution provides a web portal for end users to manage video conferences and a 24×7 helpdesk to ensure quality of service can be given at all times.

CPCNet has focused its managed services model around video conferencing being accessible to all users, something that Ovum believed was essential for the development of video conferencing when telepresence made its entrance to the market in 2007. Telepresence has definitely spurred on the video conferencing market and CPCNet’s managed network connectivity is essential for the quality of video conferences using different devices.

Huawei also quietly announced its latest telepresence offering. It already offers a selection of end points for HD video conferencing, but this is the first move in the telepresence market.

The solution, ViewPoint Telepresence 3006, is based on open standards so that it can be interoperable over different networks and can provide HD and standard-definition conferencing to users with existing video conferencing solutions. The solution uses a wireless control to manage the call setup, which it says is simpler and more convenient to use than a telephone call.

Interoperability is key for telepresence, and Huawei has made the right choice to make sure that its solution is interoperable.

The potential for HD video conferencing in China is huge. It is an extremely useful tool to help manufacturers demonstrate their products without the need for travel. So far, telepresence deployments in China have been made by the major players in the HD video conferencing market: Tandberg, Polycom and Cisco.

The release of Huawei’s Telepresence solution will help the market grow within China. Huawei is renowned for its low-cost solutions so we may expect pricing to become more competitive for video conferencing units in the future if the Huawei solution can compete with its western competitors.

Western operators catch up in Asia-Pacific

It is not only the local players that are making moves in China. In March, AT&T announced that it would also extend its telepresence services into China during 2009 by working with local partners to provide the service. This month, Orange Business Services announced that it is upgrading its IP network in Asia-Pacific, citing video conferencing support as one of the reasons for the upgrade.

All this activity in the Chinese market shows that telcos are trying to maximise their efforts to make the most of the potential of these markets. Time will tell whether the economic downturn will restrict this growth or if the emergence of HD video conferencing will enable enterprises to make much-needed cost savings to help them through this difficult period.

-- Lucy Arole, Analyst at Ovum.

Infineon on India's e-passport and semicon industry

If you have ever been a resident of Hong Kong, you'd know what an e-passport looks like! You would have even used it! For example, if you were crossing over into Shenzhen, China, from Lo Wu, which is on the borders of Luohu district within Hong Kong and the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, China, [having reached there via the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway)] -- you can easily use your Hong Kong e-passport to get past the immigration point and enter China!

It is really easy! Simply drop your e-passport into the e-passport reader slot and place your finger on the fingerprint reader for it to scan and read. Once your e-passport comes out, move over to the other side to another e-passport reader, repeat the same exercise, and you're done! All it takes is less than a minute!

All Indians could soon have e-passports!
Well, such an e-passport can become a reality in India soon! If you haven't heard it, Infineon Technologies recently supplied contactless security microcontrollers (MCUs) for India's electronic passport (e-passport) program! The Indian e-passport rollout started with Indian diplomats and officials being issued e-passports -- around 30,000 to be issued in phase one. It is likely that by September 2009, the e-passports will be extended to the general public.

The rollout has started with the issuance of electronic passports to Indian diplomats and officials. It is expected that in this first phase, up to 30,000 electronic passports shall be issued. By September 2009, the program is likely to be expanded to include passports used by the general public. Today, around 6 million passports are being annually issued in India. I believe, the government of India has invited a new tender for interested stakeholders to bid for 20 million e-passports.

So, being a Hong Kong e-passport holder, I was interested in knowing whether the Indian version is as smart as that particular one? By the way, Hong Kong's e-passport also doubles up as your Hong Kong ID (HKID) card. If you don't have one, you simply cannot do business in Hong Kong! Your HKID number is unique and remains unchanged!

Dr. Rajiv Jain, Vice President and Managing Director, Infineon Technologies India Pvt Ltd, said that both Hong Kong and India are using the same product family from Infineon. "The security levels of both e-passports are based on the Common Criteria EAL 5+, the highest possible security certification for MCUs. In addition, both comply to ICAO requirements, the international standard for e-passports."

Infineon’s SLE 66CLX800PE security MCU provides advanced performance and high execution speeds, and was specifically designed for use in electronic passports, identity cards, e-government cards and payment cards. Sounds very interesting!

Highlights of Infineon's security MCU
The security MCU features a crypto-coprocessor and can operate at very high transaction speeds of up to 848kbits/s even if the elevated encryption and decryption operations have to be calculated.

The SLE 66CLX800PE offers all contactless proximity interfaces on a single chip: the ISO/IEC 14443 type B interface and type A interface, and both used for communication between electronics passports and the respective readers; and the ISO/IEC 18092 passive mode interface, which is used in transport and banking applications. The SLE 66CLX800PE features 80 kilobytes (kb) of EEPROM, 240kb of ROM, and 6kb of RAM.

The SLE 66PE contactless controller family, which includes the SLE 66CLX800PE, is certified according to Common Criteria EAL 5+ high (BSI-PP-0002 protection profile) security certification. Infineon’s security in MCUs used in e-passports builds on the underlying hardware-based integral security, with data encryption, memory firewall system and other security mechanisms to safeguard the privacy of data.

The SLE 66PE product family comprises a whole product portfolio designed for use in basic-security to high-security smart card systems, with the EEPROM sizes ranging from 4kb to144kb, and covering different applications including government ID, transportation and payment.

Infineon's perception of Indian semiconductor industry
So much about the e-passport! I can't wait to get my hands on one! Since I was in a discussion with Infineon, it naturally turned toward the Indian semiconductor industry and what needs to be done!

Dr. Jain said: "The Indian semiconductor industry has seen its share of successes and misses. The in-depth technical talent required for design and development is omni-present (TI, Intel, Infineon, Wipro, etc., to name a few). For example, we are doing critical R&D in the areas of automotive electronics, broadband, mobile communications and secured ID solutions at Infineon India, and the fact that it is one of the largest centres in Infineon’s global R&D network, is a testimony to India’s importance as the destination for cutting edge research. This has also led to creation of home-grown design houses offering services to the larger companies.

"We are also seeing in some small, but growing numbers, products and ideas for local markets. As the local markets evolve, so will the ability of these companies to deliver innovation for these local markets, which can then be taken globally."

He added that an area of debate has been the need for semiconductor manufacturing in India. For example, having fabs, test and packaging plants, and EMS. "There have been government initiatives with a few successes. However, financial, tax-related and custom-related investment in these areas needs to come together and be centrally driven from a long-term perspective, as these institutions, which can provide a stable manufacturing base, need larger efforts to be successful."

Hopefully, we will finally get to see some action on all of these areas post the Indian general elections due shortly.

PS: Just to let all of my friends know, I am no longer associated with either CIOL or its semiconductors web site.

Why 3G operators can't ignore TD-SCDMA

Come Beijing Olympics, and China will be showcasing the TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access) technology. Largely unheralded, and spoken about by relatively few, TD-SCDMA may well surprise the telecom industry and pundits.

In fact, it is not even well known that the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in China had allocated a total frequency of 155MHz for TD-SCDMA way back in Q3 of 2002. Back then, Lothar Pauly, then member of the Group Executive Management of Siemens Information and Communication Mobile had said that the allocation of frequencies for TD-SCDMA in China marked "a milestone in the standard's development." Siemens mobile has been developing 3G technology jointly with the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT/Datang) since 1998.

As per the TD-SCDMA Forum, China Mobile has announced its TD-SCDMA terminal timetable. Apparently, in China Mobile‘s second round of TD-SCDMA terminal bidding, ZTE has won orders for 61,000 handsets and Samsung for 20,000 handsets.

Also, the MIIT has established a 3G inter-ministerial co-ordination group. Li Yizhong, minister of the new Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in China, says that the ministry has established a 3G inter-ministerial co-ordination group to promote the commercial test and ensure the success of TD-SCDMA.

He says that the ministry should actively promote the commercial test of TD-SCDMA, further reform the system, and carry out the major scientific and technological projects. Relative officials are required to supervise the construction of TD-SCDMA base stations in Beijing to ensure the call quality of TD-SCDMA and ensure the trial operation of TD-SCDMA mobile phone TVs during the upcoming Olympic Games.

The minister has also issued orders to give full support to the implementation of measures and policies beneficial for the development of TD-SCDMA. The ministry should organize Chinese telecommunication units to realize better network optimization, supply special Olympic services, co-ordinate the interoperability between 2G and 3G, solve the problems in the commercial tests, and to ensure the initial success of TD-SCDMA.

All of these developments reminds and takes me back to 2000, when TD-SCDMA was just starting to make the rounds. A good friend, Shih-ying Tan from Siemens Hong Kong, called me up to discuss this technology! Subsequently, it led to visit to Munich, to see the technology first hand!

Here are excerpts from a discussion I had, back in August 2001, with Klaus Maler, who was general manager, TD-SCDMA, for Siemens Information and Mobile Communications in Munich, Germany, at that point of time (in pic). I was serving Wireless Week, US, as its Asia-Pacific editor. Some or most of this may read a bit outdated, but it is still worth a read for those keen on TD-SCDMA.

TD-SCDMA, a 3G technology co-developed by Siemens AG and the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology, is said to be the only technology suitable for TDD (time division duplex) bands. In addition to being more spectrally efficient for both symmetrical and asymmetrical data services, it is capable of dealing with hot spot scenarios. Some TDMA operators reportedly are considering it as an option for migrating to 3G, and once deployed on the mainland of China, it is likely to reach the economies of scale that would make it attractive to mobile operators worldwide.

What are the chances that TD-SCDMA will be accepted by carriers, given that it is a TDD technology while wideband-CDMA and CDMA2000 are FDD (frequency division duplex) technologies? Isn't TDD in a minority here?

Maler had replied that TD-SCDMA, as well as W-CDMA, uses GSM MAP [manufacturing automation protocol]. This means that it is very likely to have affordable GSM/W-CDMA or GSM/TD-SCDMA dual-mode or GSM/TD-SCDMA/W-CDMA triple-mode handsets. On the other hand, an exotic GSM/CDMA2000 handset should support two different MAPs–GSM and IS-833. Dealing with such complicated and expensive handsets does not encourage GSM operators to adopt a CDMA standard.

As TD-SCDMA is TDD based, it offers optimum spectral efficiency for both symmetric and asymmetric data services. Certainly, carriers won't ignore this aspect. On an international scale, TD-SCDMA is the only technology suitable for the TDD bands, assigned by regulators worldwide and already have been auctioned in Europe. So TD-SCDMA, being an accepted standard worldwide, approved by the ITU and standardized in the 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project), is definitely not in a minority.

Were there any chances that TD-SCDMA won't get locked in like another TDD standard, PHS, has in Japan? In response, Maler said TD-SCDMA is an accepted technology, while PHS is more of a local standard in Japan. Also, TDD frequencies have been allocated in most of the European countries. These are the two major reasons why TD-SCDMA has more potential.

Mainland China is already the largest mobile market now. TD-SCDMA will be deployed in China as a global standard, addressing all sizes of cells, [so] the necessary effects of scale will be available for operators worldwide.

"We had discussed with mainland Chinese manufacturers a few years ago the advantages of combining TDD technologies with smart antennas. We studied this issue and this evolved into continuous improvement and actual development. This happened at a time when we were looking at the mainland Chinese market as a major focus. Last year, when we realized that TD-SCDMA had good potential, we started to introduce it into the 3GPP. Now it has been accepted as a global standard," he said.

According to him, TD-SCDMA has a very bright future, [although] operators may go for a combination of technologies. TD-SCDMA allows operators to add spectrum for voice services using their core GSM networks. The version we are talking about for the launch in mainland China is based on a GSM core network. This will later evolve into a UMTS core network. We started developing the technology three years late, [so you could] say that TD-SCDMA is three years more modern than the other technologies. Now, we are all having trials simultaneously.

Is there a compelling case for TDMA operators to go the TD-SCDMA route? At the moment [this is 2001 end, remember], most TDMA operators in United States, for example, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless, are embracing GSM, thereby, acknowledging it as a worldwide standard. They are also committed to adopting the following migration path–TDMA-GSM-GPRS-EDGE-UMTS– following the footsteps of European operators.

Both of the UMTS alternatives –- W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA -– are being taken into consideration by TDMA operators, either as a complementary or an alternative solution. In particular, American TDMA operators believe that TD-SCDMA, thanks to its higher data transmission rate and its capability to deal with asymmetrical traffic and hot spot scenarios, is an interesting technology. The 1.6MHz bandwidth [it uses] will certainly ease the spectrum allocation in the already crowded spectrum currently available in the United States.

Most of the TDMA operators are moving to the GSM-GPRS-EDGE-W-CDMA route. It's not easy to get FDD spectrum in the United States and it will become even more difficult in the future. This is a very good opportunity for a TDD technology like TD-SCDMA.

Were there any plans to implement TD-SCDMA in Europe, and especially Germany, given that Siemens has been playing an active role in developing this technology?

In Europe, TD-SCDMA will be deployed with capacity-enlargement purposes in W-CDMA networks in hot spot scenarios. By that time, TD-SCDMA will already be a mature technology and will have derived benefits from the mainland Chinese experience.

Most of the operators are now focusing on W-CDMA. They can consider TD-SCDMA to enhance services later on. We are speaking with several operators in Europe. They have been surprised and have actively responded [because] they can see that the chances for TD-SCDMA to succeed have improved considerably. Operators that had not chosen Siemens for some reason now have decided to take another look at us.

And why aren't GSM operators elsewhere showing interest in this technology? Instead, they have been opting for W-CDMA? In the very beginning in Europe, around 1998, TDD was conceived as a technology only for micro and picocell coverage. Consequently, it was considered interesting only in a second phase of the UMTS deployment as a capacity enlargement. Spectrum was assigned and licenses were bought bearing this in mind.

As TD-SCDMA is also able to cover large cells, the momentum behind it is increasing considerably and we are getting quite a lot of interest from European operators of merging TDD activities into this technology.

TD-SCDMA is quite a good alternative. Also, if an operator already has W-CDMA and adds TD-SCDMA, or it's the other way around, it's quite a good combination. Very soon, carriers will notice capacity shortages, especially for the more powerful applications. Facing the fact that they are wasting bandwidth, in terms of asymmetrical traffic, TDD is the technology of choice. The combination of both technologies -- W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA -- may apply in most countries, even here in Europe.

By the way, there used to be LinkAir's LAS-CDMA (Large Area Synchronized Code-Division Multiple Access). LAS-CDMA was also said to offer a higher spectral efficiency and moving speed, thus providing better support for mobile applications. Its asymmetric traffic, higher throughput, and smaller delay provide also improved IP support. A LAS-CDMA TDD variant is compatible with systems such as TD-SCDMA.

I had written about LAS-CDMA back in 2000, but have been unable to find the link. Even there's no update on this technology. Would be great if folks could update me on LAS-CDMA.

Lastly, I need to thank Chi-Foon Chan, president and COO of Synopsys, who I recently met on the sidelines of the Synopsys SNUG event. Chan discussed TD-SCDMA and LAS-CDMA briefly, while touching upon the semicon/EDA industry. But, more of that later!

Speculating on Indian 3G spectrum specter

The ongoing saga regarding spectrum for 3G services, use of dual technologies, etc., reminds me of 2002, the MII, TD-SCDMA and 155MHz! Read on...

Anything on the spectrum spectacle in India makes very interesting reading! It’s as though two sides fighting over a valuable possession. Worth a click!!

We have been following how the two GSM and CDMA lobbies -– COAI and AUSPI -– have been in the news over the use of mixed bands. GSM operators have constantly warned that any move to allocate spectrum in the 1900MHz band to CDMA players would adversely impact their services in the 2100MHz band. We've been following what the TRAI, the DoT and others have to say on all of this.

Then AUSPI informed this week that field trials conducted in Hyderabad last week had proved successful. The trial conducted by AUSPI on behalf of the Department of Telecom (DoT) claims that the co-existence of 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz is possible.

Now, we are told that defence would be vacating spectrum by end of this year and India would have 3G services by next year. Hope all disputes are settled amicably and India finally gets to see what 3G services would have to offer.

I am reminded of two things – one, the 3G license auctions in Europe, which nearly brought the wireless house down in the early 2000s, and two, an interesting development in China. I’ll dwell on the second one.

Nearly seven years ago, I happened to break the news on TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code-Division Multiple Access), a 3G technology being developed at that point of time by Datang Telecom and Siemens. That story link no longer exists, so I'm providing a link to another story, mentioned below.

About two and a half years later, around October 2002, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in China allocated a total frequency of 155MHz for TD-SCDMA! This, for an untested, untried 3G technology, in a country much larger than India, was and is still unheard of!

Makes me wonder, why did the MII give away so much of spectrum so long back to an untested 3G technology, when in India, we keep hearing reports about spectrum issues, use of dual technologies, etc. Are there lessons to be learnt from the Chinese example?

On TD-SCDMA, much later, in 2002, I also discovered not many had even heard of it in India. However, around the time I reported this 155MHz spectrum story, STING’s Robin Grewal contacted me in Delhi to find out more about this 3G technology! That was the level of interest in 3G and TD-SCDMA, and spectrum in India, at least, at that time. Things have changed since! Hopefully!!