State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Like I had mentioned in my previous post, the Nokia Bloggers Meet-up was held on 22nd May at The Sports Bar – Karachi. The event wasn’t just a bloggers meet-up but also a sneak-peak of N97.

N97- The new entrant in the Nokia’s flagship N-series is due to launch in Pakistan in first week of June. This time Nokia came different and thus was this pre-launch meet-up with the bloggers.

Mr. Adeel Hashmi, Communication Manager – Nokia Pakistan, started off the event giving an introduction to the idea of meeting the bloggers for the pre-launch and promised more of such meet-ups. The keynote speakers of the evening were Mr. Khurram Pradhan, Product and Portfolio Manager and Ms. Shabana Shahzad, Program Manager.

Khurram Pradhan gave his presentation on the main theme of N97 – Personal Internet. In his presentation he also focused on what’s driving the transformation of converged devices. He discussed that Nokia has been working on converging mobile phone with internet from last decade to enhance the personal internet experience.

At present out of the 1.3 billion internet users 520 million use it on mobile device and research has indicated this figure will go up to 1.5 billion by the year 2012. Nokia being consumer centric is on the move to make the mobile broadband dream a reality.

Not only this Nokia also plans to attract the market where we have 93 million users using the social network services like facebook, my space and twitter on their mobile devices, 82 million downloading maps on their devices, 22.3 million access the internet on devices daily for news and information and where we also have 184 million blogs among which 77%  are actively read and commented. In efforts of enriching the networking experience, the N97 comes with third party widgets, which are standalone programs on your mobile home screen.

Nokia’s customer care is a two dimensional strategy, one, devices for connecting people and second devices for connecting places which it achieves along with Ovi Maps.

Foreseeing the future in application development Nokia has acquired all of the rights to the Symbian operating system (OS) and open sourced it under the Eclipse license.

Khurram’s part ended with a Q and A session and then came the most interesting and most awaited SNEAK PEAK at the N97. Ms. Shabana Shahzad conducted it. Bloggers were also given the feel-it experience of N97.

Some of the N97 features are:

- Easy and fast connections to internet services
- Easy text input with QWERTY keyboard and touch screen
- 3.5 inch sliding tilt display
- Live personalized home screen with widgets
- Up-to-date information via RSS feed
- Fully compatible with Oviservices
- Browse real web pages
- Take pictures and videos and share them immediately
- Watch high-quality video on the large 3.5 inch 16:9 widescreen
- Video playback at 30 fps, for a wide array of formats
- Play videos, music and pictures on TV using TV-out
- Access internet video feeds through Nokia Video Center
- Enjoy great audio through standard 3.5 mm jack headphones, built-in stereo speakers or Bluetooth technology
- Digital music player with support for play list editing, equalizer and categorized access to your music collection
- Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store (for availability, please visit www.music.nokia.com)
- Nokia Maps with integrated compass and A-GPS receiver
- Multimedia city guides and navigation services. Drive: voice guided car navigation, or Walk: pedestrian-optimized turn-by-turn guidance. (Navigation may need to be purchased separately.)
- World-class game titles with N-Gage
- Make you home-screen private any time you want

N97 Tech Profile:

System:        WCDMA 900/1900/2100 (HSDPA), EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
User Interface:    S60 5th Edition
Dimensions:    117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm*mm (L x W x H) *18.25 mm at camera area
Weight:        Approx. 150 g
Display:        3.5 inch TFT with up to 16 million colorsnHD16:9 widescreen (640×360 pixels)
Battery:         Nokia Battery BP-4L, 1500 mAh
Memory:        Up to 48GB (32 GB on-board memory, plus 16GB expansion via micro SD memory card slot)
Video playback:    MPEG-4 / SP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264,up to 30 fps, up to VGA resolution Real Video up to QCIF @ 30 fps Windows Media (WMV9) up to CIF @ 30 fps Flash Lite 3.0 / Flash Video in internet browser
Music playback:    MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA
Lens:        Carl Zeiss Tessar™
Image capture:    Up to 5 mega pixels (2584 x 1938) JPEG/EXIF (16.7 million/24-bit color)
Video capture:    MPEG-4 VGA (640 x 480) at up to 30 fps
Aperture:        F2.8
Focal length:    5.4 mm
Flash:        Dual LED camera flash and video light
Talk time:        Up to 320 min (3G), 400 min (GSM)
Standby time:    Up to 400 hrs (3G), 430 hrs (GSM)
Video playback:    Up to 4,5 hours (offline mode)
Music playback:    Up to 37 hours (offline mode)

The device shall be availabe here in second week of june at an expected retail price of Rs. 60,000.

At one end the demand of mobile broadband is increasing and so is the need of 3G and B3G (Beyond 3G), where as at the other end operators as well as consumers have shown reluctance to go 3G. Operators resist in the deployment of 3G as they have invested heavily in existing air-interface infrastructure, while for consumers the cost of using 3G services is high.

As we had discussed earlier in the Evolution towards HSDPA, the migration strategy along the road to the 3G and beyond should be “soft” network evolution that does not render existing installations superfluous. The solutions to this comes as NSN unveils plans for Flexi Multiradio base stations.

As reported in a press release,

Nokia Siemens Networks has today made the evolution path from 2G and 3G to LTE faster, greener and more cost-effective than ever with the launch of Flexi Multiradio Base Station. Building on the company’s market leading Flexi Base Station platform, the new Multiradio Flexi expands its supported technologies to cover GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA and LTE – all running concurrently in a single unit.

Flexi Multiradio Base Station meets the needs of new and existing 2G and 3G operators who can use their existing infrastructure to deploy new network-wide technologies via simple software upgrade to 3G or LTE. The flexibility of a true multiradio base station removes the risk from balancing investments made in 2G, 3G and LTE, providing operators with future-proof options. The new Multiradio Flexi is also backward compatible with current Flexi Base Station, enabling capacity upgrades to existing Base Station sites.The product also fits CDMA operators who intend to migrate to WCDMA/HSPA or LTE.

For operators coping with cost challenges, running multiple radio technologies in a single Base Station means reduced OPEX from fewer site visits, simplified logistics, reduced maintenance and a smaller requirement for trained staff. The possibility to reuse GSM sites for WCDMA and HSPA also delivers savings from reduced rental costs and maximized reuse of existing infrastructure.

“Flexi Multiradio Base Station makes network evolution faster, greener and more cost-efficient than ever, and this launch makes Nokia Siemens Networks the only vendor which enables future technology evolution steps exactly with the same hardware without radio technology specific boards. Thanks to the industry’s highest degree of integration, Flexi Multiradio Base Station is able to provide three technologies in one compact 3 sector Base Station of less than 75 liters”, said Marc Rouanne, head of the company’s Radio Access business.

Superior energy efficiency – a key feature of Flexi Base Stations – is further improved in Flexi Multiradio. The new Base Station has the lowest energy consumption in the market. An average 3 sector Base Station site running simultaneously GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA consumes as little as 790W, whilst pushing an impressive 60W output per sector for maximum capacity and coverage. The small and lightweight product is also rugged enough for outdoor use without shelters or air conditioning, further minimising their environmental impact.

“We are very pleased to see Nokia Siemens Networks take concrete steps towards fulfilment of the targets agreed in the context of WWF’s Climate Savers programme” said Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Director of Corporate Relations at WWF International. “This is a good example of how technological innovation can contribute to improved energy efficiency and profitability, while reducing a company’s ecological footprint. The fight against climate change requires all the ingenuity and commitment that the corporate sector has to offer”.

Flexi Multiradio Base Station features built-in IP/Ethernet connectivity for a unified transport network for the Single RAN. Operators can also benefit from using the common NetAct network management system for planning, optimising and operating the Single RAN. For example, NetAct Optimizer enables easy and high quality refarming of WCDMA or LTE in current GSM 900 MHz frequency band.

Deployments of this new Flexi Multiradio Base Station will start from the beginning of 2010 onwards.

As the world is entering an era of technology convergence, the wireless panorama is changing ‘fast and furious’. The recent convergence of the Internet and mobile radio has also accelerated the demand for “Internet in the pocket” on light, low-cost terminals, as well as for radio technologies that boost data throughput and reduce cost per bit. Mobile networks are now going multimedia, potentially leading to an explosion in throughput from a few bytes for the Short Message Service (SMS) to a few Kbits/s for the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), to several 100 kbits/s for video content.

This trend to higher data rates over wireless networks will culminate in the introduction of Third Generation (3G) System UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology is a cost-efficient upgrade to UMTS systems and promises to deliver performance comparable to today’s wireless LAN services, but with the added benefit of mobility and ubiquitous coverage.

Mobile operators who have invested heavy amounts in existing infrastructure will obviously show reluctance towards deployment of new 3G infrastructure. An extremely flexible expansion and migration strategy along the road to the 3G would be “soft” network evolution that does not render existing installations superfluous.

Evolution Path

Investment risks are minimized and competitive positions strengthened through the gradual deployment of technology. Intelligently expanding existing infrastructures is often all it takes to be able to offer new forms of mobile data services in practice quickly and flexibly.

Basically four transmission systems play a role in the evolution from GSM to the Third mobile radio generation (3G), namely:

• HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data)
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
• EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution)
• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System)

The chart below shows the evolution path.

The present network architecture stands on EDGE, it stands for Enhanced Data Rates for Global (instead of “Global”, originally: GSM) Evolution. Based on the GSM standard, EDGE permits faster data rates – and so is intermediate step from GSM technology toward UMTS.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) is the name given to a totally new performance dimension in mobile radio. UMTS is the cornerstone of what is called the third mobile radio generation (3G) for voice and data communication, both packet and circuit-switched. UMTS employs separate frequency bands so is free from the bottlenecks of GSM systems.

Once UMTS is implemented, it would pave the path for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks to higher data rates and higher capacities, in the same way as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) does in the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) world. HSDPA is primarily implemented in the Node B (identical to a BTS in a GSM network) and the RNC (Radio Network Controller, both are the entities oF UMTS RAN (Radio Access Network).

Advantages of HSDPA

Eventually every UMTS market will see HSDPA deployments – the technology offers operators too much of an edge to be ignored.

Major advantages include:

• Peak data rates of up to seven times higher than those in the most advanced UMTS networks
• A four-fold improvement in network capacity
• Reduced round-trip time between network and terminals
• Sophisticated scheduling allowing favorable allocation of resources

HSDPA’s improved spectrum efficiency enables much faster downstream throughput – between network and terminal – than current UMTS technology. Although the theoretical maximum data transfer speed of HSDPA is 10- 14Mbps, the technology will deliver a 2 – 3Mbps downlink on average. Shared among users in an adequately covered area, this will provide each user with a 300K – 1Mbps downlink, i.e. comparable to current wireless LANs and domestic fixed line broadband.

HSDPA is an extremely cost-effective path to higher data rates and provides more efficient use of valuable spectrum. It enables operators to compete effectively in increasingly converged markets and satisfy the need for enhanced QoS and bandwidth-hungry services in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

References:

[i] www.umts-forum.com

[ii] http://www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/gsm_to_umts-siemens.pdf

[iii] www.3gamericas.org/pdfs/lucent_hsdpa_paper_2005.pdf

News was in from the beginning of the year that by the end of 2008 PTA will auction licenses for 3G. With the year coming to the end, we have not seen this happen. But now with a two-day workshop on 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) Network Planning, it looks like PTA has laid the foundation for licensing the 3G spectrum early next year.

The workshop was held in association with Qualcomm Inc, USA and Central Asian CDMA Forum at PTA headquarters, Islamabad from 4-5 December 2008.

PTA has assured the telecom industry for its full support and cooperation for the introduction of new technology and to provide level playing field to all the stake holders. On the occasion of closing ceremony, Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen distributed the certificates to the participants of the workshop.

The workshop was conducted by telecom experts and Qualcomm certified trainers Mr. Syed Umair & Mr. Muhammad Arif Khan. The training session covered various areas of 3G WCDMA/UMTS wireless technology including Network consideration, Coverage, Uplink and Down Link Budgets, Propagation, Traffic and Capacity, HSDPA and HSUPA considerations, Network Dimensioning and Tool overview.

Representatives of Mobile phone operators, telecom companies and vendors attended the workshop on 3G.

It may be noted over here that MTNL (Indian Operator) has already launched 3G in few areas of New Delhi and is expanding it steadily to country-wide level. Bangladesh also plans to roll-out 3G services in the coming year.

Reference: PTA website