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.