Raising the profile of 3G technology

Raising the profile of 3G technology

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Cannes/France

Alcatel, the French telecommunications giant, invited three
Indonesian journalists, including The Jakarta Post's Kornelius
Purba to cover, from Feb. 6 through Feb. 17, the Alcatel Forum
2005 in Paris and the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. Below is a
report of the visit.

Watching your favorite TV program or film or downloading your
favorite song via your cell phone is closer to becoming a
reality.

That is the impression visitors got during their visit to the
four-day 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, which ended on Feb. 17.

The theme of the GSM Association (GSMA) congress was to
encourage its members to make every effort to maximize the use of
third-generation (3G) GSM, because although the technology has
been used globally for years, there are still significant
barriers to its full implementation, including tariffs.

In Indonesia, poor infrastructure has been a major obstacle to
the technology's introduction.

High-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), often described as
4G, is able to operate at seven megabytes per second (Mbps) and
has already entered the market, but 3G technology still needs to
reach out fully to the global market.

South Korea is among the most advanced countries now using
cellular technology. It has adopted CDMA (Code Division Multiple
Access) 2000 1xEV-DO as its 3G platform.

Meanwhile, Japan, which only subsequently matched South
Korea's achievement in the cellular field, is using Wide CDMA (W-
CDMA). In Southeast Asia, Singapore is the most advanced nation
in terms of 3G technology adoption.

To boost the use of cell phones in developing countries, the
association has decided to provide six million handsets, each
costing less than US$40, with the expectation that at least 100
million new users can be reached this year alone.

India, the Philippines and Indonesia have become the main
market for low-cost cellular handsets. Motorola has reportedly
won the contract to provide them.

Taking place at the Palais des Festivals adjacent to the
beach, where the annual Cannes Film Festival is also held, more
than 650 world-class telecommunications companies, including
Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens, demonstrated their
latest innovations.

Mobile operators like Vodafone, French SFR, Japan's NTT DoCoMo
captivated visitors. Unfortunately, no Indonesian companies
participated in the exhibition.

Companies in the fields of applications development,
applications service provision, cellular equipment, encryption
and security equipment, Internet software and messaging services
were also present.

Other attractions were Siemens' luxury ship anchored just a
few hundred meters from the exhibition venue, and a mini fashion
show with models wearing itty-bitty bikinis -- a rare sight in
winter months. Meanwhile, Microsoft was holding an interactive
dialog with visitors.

This will be the last time the annual congress is held in
Cannes, which is now regarded as too small for the event. Next
year, the GSM congress will be held in Barcelona, Spain.

Alcatel launched its new disruptive technologies innovation,
the mobile next-generation networks (Mobile NGN), which enables
operators to cut operating costs and budget overheads.

Other new products include unlicensed mobile access (UMA),
which enables users to move seamlessly between GSM or GPRS
(general packet radio service) and WiFi (wireless fidelity)
hotspots.

Its new cellular handsets, to be launched later this year,
will enable customers to view Fashion TV. Alcatel and Sony are
also working together to provide music distribution services.

According to Alcatel vice president for Asia Pacific Mobile
Marketing and Business Development Michael Levy, the company
operates in three main areas: Mobile radio, the new NGN system
and applications like Orange.

The latest technology enables customers to get live TV and
live news. By using Alcatel's pvNS video streaming software,
Orange, a major mobile communications firm, is able to provide
video and audio services.

"You will see a lot of video applications and games. We have
been operating these with the Orange group. You can get live TV
and live news," he said.

This year, fixed mobile convergence will become a top
priority. It covers service convergence in fixed and mobile
services, and terminal convergencies, which means using the same
terminal when users are at home or outside the home, using
cellular or fixed lines.

There is also network "convergention", which mixes fixed and
mobile network operating together.

Another priority is tipple play, which means access to voice,
video and data. Voice is, of course, conventional telephony,
while video uses Code Digital Subscriber Line Access Technologies
to provide several TV channels, video on demand, and also access
to the Internet. There are other new technologies like managed
communication services.

"The next generation of services for operators to make money
will be this kind of service," said Levy.

The ambitious target to boost 3G technology has a strong base.
However, we must also remember that for many users, including
those in Europe and Asia, voice communication and short-messaging
services (subsequently, medium-messaging services) are more than
enough.

Cost also remains a major issue for users. How to provide
affordable 3G services that are still profitable for service
providers?

Finding an answer to that question must be keeping more than
one person from a good night's sleep.