Cellular business in the 3G era<\/p>\n
B. Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A young executive looking for an apartment is interested in a
\nmini ad. Unlike other mini ads we usually find in newspapers,
\nthis one contains a small bar code. He takes his cell phone and
\nscans the bar code. The information in the bar code, after being
\nprocessed by an application in his phone, appears on the monitor.
\nIt gives the young man detailed information about the apartment
\nadvertised.<\/p>\n
Detailed information? Well, yes, as the information not only
\ncontains the size and the price of the apartment, as well as the
\naddress and the name of the owner, but also photos -- taken from
\nseveral different angles -- about the apartment in question. If
\nneed be, you can have a video conversation with the owner with
\nyour cell phone and negotiate the price. If you wish to see him,
\nyou can easily look at the map on your monitor to find your way
\nto the apartment.<\/p>\n
All this sounds like a story in a film, but it is not. It is a
\nreality and a common one at that. At least, it is a reality in
\nJapan, where the telecommunications standard has reached the
\nthird generation (3G). Without 3G technology, the story above is
\nsimply fiction. With the application of the 3G standard in
\ncellular communications, cell phone users can easily hold a video
\nconference, find out the position of the other person in this
\nphone conversation or look at three-dimensional pictures.<\/p>\n
The 3G standard, which the International Telecommunication
\nUnion (ITU) released through its IMT 2000 package, has begun to
\nchange the business landscape in cellular technology. While
\npreviously, the cellular (technology) business was dominated by
\nGSM\/GPRS, since 2000 CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
\ntechnology has begun to significantly penetrate the market.<\/p>\n
Today, there are no fewer than 227 million subscribers to CDMA
\nof various versions, and 150 million subscribers to 3G CDMA
\n(CDMA2000 1x, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, and WCDMA). CDMA2000 and WCDMA,
\nwhich GSM has developed, are two of the five most popular
\ninterfaces that have fulfilled the G3 criteria consistently.<\/p>\n
Of course, CDMA subscribers are still far smaller in number
\nthan GSM subscribers. "This is because CDMA began to undertake
\nlarge-scale promotion only in 2000," said Harry K. Nugraha,
\nsenior director and country manager of Qualcomm Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Qualcomm is a pioneer of CDMA technology and launched this
\ntechnology commercially in Hong Kong in 1995. Today, nearly all
\nof 125 CDMA operators make use of Qualcomm technology.<\/p>\n
CDMA began to draw attention when SK Telecom of South Korea
\nmarked the initial launching of 3G CDMA (CDMA-2000 1x) in October
\n2000. A year later, NTT DoCoMo made use of WCDMA in Japan. Later,
\nSouth Korea improved the system with CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, a format
\nthat is capable of speeds of 2.4 Mbps. Today, CDMA in these two
\ncountries holds a very prominent position. In South Korea it has
\neven become a very dominant platform.<\/p>\n
With its 3G platform, which consistently features connections
\nat a speed of 2 Mbps for a stationary position, a speed of 384
\nkbps for mobile positions and 144 kbps for a fast moving
\nposition, CDMA-2000 obviously has a number of benefits, such as
\nlarger data capacity and a higher communication speed. As a
\nresult, CDMA2000 can do more faster than other cellular
\ntechnologies. Using CDMA technology, an operator can provide
\nvirtual meeting services such as video conferencing, location-
\nbased service (LBS), streaming and downloading of videos and
\nmusic, including TV programs, the application of peer-to-peer
\nmessaging such as instant messaging, MMS or e-mail.<\/p>\n
Of no less importance is that CDMA2000 technology enables more
\nusers to use cellular channels at the same time. This has made
\nCDMA more competitive in terms of price. It may be said that all
\nover the world today CDMA 3G operators are enjoying an increase
\nin average revenue per user (ARPU). Of course this is a promising
\nbusiness opportunity.<\/p>\n
In view of the readiness of the CDMA operators in Indonesia,
\nit seems that the future of CDMA will be as bright as its
\npredecessor, GSM. We can see that most major operators -- Telkom
\n(Flexi), Indosat (StarOne), Bakrie Telecom (Esia) and Mobile-8
\n(Fren) -- have adopted 3G CDMA2000 1x. Even today they are
\npreparing more sophisticated technology by adopting the CDMA2000
\n1xEV-DO (data optimized) technology.<\/p>\n
Understandably, the use of 1xEV-DP technology can bring peak
\nperformance for a network, which can reach 2.4 Mbps or 2,400
\nkbps, while the speed of GSM\/GPRS technology through EDGE is only
\n160 kbps. On the other hand, the choice of CDMA2000, which is
\nindeed the G3 standard, obviously shows what the operators in
\nIndonesia will do.<\/p>\n
Among other things, there will be many operators that will
\nprovide multimedia services for streaming and downloading:
\nsubscribers, for example, can order a recording of a soccer match
\nbetween Chelsea and Manchester United that a television station
\naired the night before. Subscribers will also been pampered with
\nvarious games that can be played simultaneously by several users.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the Internet and the traffic of data packages will
\nobviously be facilitated. Retail business services such as mini
\nads are expected to dominate the CDMA-based cellular services in
\nfuture. And in keeping with the ITU requirements, the G3
\ntechnology, including the CDMA2000 1x, must also be affordable to
\nevery subscriber.<\/p>\n
So far, the CDMA technology has been able to meet
\nincreasingly more complex needs for telecommunication
\ntechnologies such as an improved voice quality, the speed of data
\ntransfer, the Internet access and multi-media features.<\/p>\n
The question is whether operators are ready to meet the needs
\nof their subscribers, particularly with respect to making
\navailable adequate services and features. This is the right time
\nfor CDMA operators to draw up their business strategy. - The
\nwriter is Jakarta-based freelance journalist<\/p>",
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