In this post, we will discuss briefly about the new technologies that Indian wireless subscribers can expect within the next one to four years. While technologies such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and CDMA Evolution – Data Only (EV-DO) will be deployed by 2009, Long Term Evolution (LTE) may appear only in 2012 or later.
It will be useful to know that there are three main standards organizations that are developing mobile technologies for us. Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is responsible for the creation of the GSM family of standards that comprises of:
- GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications (second generation technology – 2G)
- GPRS/EDGE: General Packet Radio Service/Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (2.5G)
- UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (3G)
- HSPA: High Speed Packet Access (3.5G)
- LTE: Long Term Evolution (4G)
Similarly, Third Generation Partnership Project 2 is the standardization group for the CDMA family of standards:
- CDMA IS-95: Code Division Multiple Access Interim Standard (2G)
- CDMA 1x: (2.5G)
- CDMA EV-DO: CDMA Evolution – Data Only (3G)
- UMB: Ultra Mobile Broadband (4G)
WiMax Forum is yet another new organization that has been working on Fixed and Mobile WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access - 4G).
Indian operators may directly deploy HSPA and bypass UMTS to offer high speed data services. HSPA can offer peak data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps in the downlink and 5.7 Mbps in the uplink for a 2 x 5 MHz spectrum. Compare this with the GPRS/EDGE data rates of 177 kbps and 118 kbps in the downlink and uplink, respectively. In effect, HSPA can be used for faster downloading/uploading of data, voice over IP, and even live TV streaming on your mobile.
While CDMA 1x is already being offered by a few operators, CDMA EV-DO will be natural next step for these operators. EV-DO provides similar performance to HSPA with a downlink throughput of 14.7 Mbps for a 5 MHz spectrum. Reduced latency makes this technology suitable for video telephony and streaming.
WiMax is a fairly new and advanced near-fourth-generation technology with superior performance. Again, fixed WiMax is now available in India through a few operators. However, the more interesting mobile WiMax can be seen next year. India can become the first country to adopt this new technology in a large scale. Mobile WiMax is capable of delivering up to 70 Mbps data rate with very low latencies in a 20 MHz spectrum. Later versions are claiming even higher speeds. Clearly, interactive real-time gaming on your mobile looks quite possible!
LTE is being touted as the ultimate broadband 4G technology and some companies are claiming data rates as high as 150 Mbps downlink and 80 Mbps uplink data rates for a 20 MHz spectrum. LTE may be a perfect replacement for our DSL as nearly all applications can be run successfully on an LTE mobile. Gaming, video streaming, video conferencing, and instant downloads will certainly be possible. The operators may not deploy this technology at least until 2012 as they would want to recover their investments in 3G before venturing in to 4G.
