SAK 5306

Advanced Computer Network

3GTHIRD GENERATION

Represented by:

Ong Pei Ying GS12903

Mohd Shahril bin Saharedan GS12883

Lai Meng Chai GS12870

1

Table of Content :

1. Introduction 2

2. 3G Wireless Market Drivers 4

3. Existing Mobile Networks / Evolution on Mobile Communication Technologies 7

3.1 First Generation Wireless Technology 7

3.2 Second Generation Wireless Technology 7

4. Next Generation Mobile Networks 9

4.1 Second Generation (2G+) Wireless Networks 9

4.2 Third Generation (3G) Wireless Networks 15

4.2.1 Cellular Standards for the Third Generation: The ITU's IMT-2000 family 21

4.3 Comparison of 2G and 3G Mobile Networks 23

5. Evolution to 3G Wireless Technology 26

5.1 Interworking with 2G and 2G+ Wireless Networks 27

5.2 3G Licensing in Asia 29

5.3 Variety of Mobile Multimedia Service – Applications for 3G Network

And wireless Services 30

5.4 The Challenges of the 3G Wireless Service 32

5.5 Implications On Electronic Government (EG) in Malaysia 33

6. Summary View on 3G 34

7. Conclusion 37

Reference 38

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1. Introduction

Third Generation (3G) mobile devices and services will transform wireless

communications into on-line, real-time connectivity. 3G wireless technologies will allow

an individual to have immediate access to location-specific services that offer

information on demand. The first generation of mobile phones consisted of the analog

models that emerged in the early 1980s. The second generation of digital mobile phones

appeared about ten years later along with the first digital mobile networks. During the

second generation, the mobile telecommunications industry experienced exponential

growth both in terms of subscribers as well as new types of value-added services. Mobile

phones are rapidly becoming the preferred means of personal communication, creating

the world's largest consumer electronics industry.

The rapid and efficient deployment of new wireless data and Internet services has

emerged as a critical priority for communications equipment manufacturers. Network

components that enable wireless data services are fundamental to the next-generation

network infrastructure. Wireless data services are expected to see the same explosive

growth in demand that Internet services and wireless voice services have seen in recent

years.

This paper presents an overview of current technology trends in the wireless technology

market, a historical overview of the evolving wireless technologies and an examination of

how the communications industry plans to implement 3G wireless technology standards

to address the growing demand for wireless multimedia services.

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2. 3G Wireless Market Drivers

Telecommunications service providers and network operators are embracing the recently

adopted global third generation (3G) wireless standards in order to address emerging user

demands and to provide new services. The concept of 3G wireless technologies

represents a shift from voice-centric services to multimedia-oriented (voice, data, video,

fax) services. In addition, heavy demand for remote access to personalized data is fueling

development of applications, such as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and

multimedia management, to complement the 3G protocols. Complementary standards,

such as Bluetooth, will enable interoperability between a mobile terminal (phone, PDA

etc.) and other electronic devices, such as a laptop/desktop and peripherals, providing

added convenience to the consumer and allowing for the synchronization and uploading

of information at all times.

According to Lehman Brothers, approximately 50 percent of current voice services

subscribers are expected to use wireless data services by 2007, instead of 25 percent as

previously forecast1. Lehman Brothers further predicts that, within seven years, 18

percent of cellular revenues and 21 percent of PCS (personal communications services)

revenue will come from wireless data services. Cellular subscriptions are forecast to

exceed one billion by 20032, compared with the 306 million that was forecast at the end

of 1998, representing a compound annual growth of 29 percent. Demand for voice

services has traditionally been a market driver. However, today, demand for data services

has emerged as an equally significant market driver. After many years of stasis, the

telecommunications industry is undergoing revolutionary changes due to the impact of

increased demand for data services on wire line and wireless networks. Up until recently,

data traffic over mobile networks remained low at around 2% due to the bandwidth

limitations of the present second-generation (2G) wireless networks. Today, new

technologies are quickly emerging that will optimize the transport of data services and

offer higher bandwidth in a mobile environment. As a case in point, the increased use of

1 Business Wire, Feb 25, 20002 Mobile Data Handbook, The Road to Mobile Internet by Merrill Lynch, 24 September 1999

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the Internet as an acceptable source for information distribution and retrieval, in

conjunction with the increased demand for global mobility has created a need for 3G

wireless communications protocols.

The third generation of mobile communications will greatly enhance the implementation

of sophisticated wireless applications. Users will be able to utilize personal, location-

based wireless information and interactive services. Also, many companies and

corporations are restructuring their business processes to be able to fully exploit the

opportunities provided by the emerging new wireless data services. Many advanced

wireless services are already available today, and the introduction of 3G wireless

technologies will add to their ubiquity.

The mobile telecommunications revolution over the past 20 years has proven that time

and again innovation, cost efficiency and pervasiveness could only happen with open

standards and competition. According to the ITU, in 1986 there were just 1.4 million

mobile subscribers, compared to 410 million fixed telephones lines. In late 1990s,the

number of mobile phones overtook the number of fixed lines in some countries, e.g. in

Finland, and this has happened in many countries since. During the first half of 2002,the

number of mobile subscribers worldwide reached the magical one billion figure. And this

exponential growth continues unabated. Continues unabated.

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The communications boom of later years has largely been thanks to the widespread

adoption of mobile phones. From an extreme luxury two decades ago to the role of basic

phone service for many millions today in the developed and developing world, it is

largely due to GSM’s emergence and subsequent dominance of the global mobile

industry. Only through such massive adoption and interoperability have technology

developers been able to achieve the economies of scale necessary to bring the cost of

high technology down to the levels accessible to so many hundreds of millions of people.

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3. Existing Mobile Networks / Evolution on Mobile Communication

Technologies

3.1 First Generation Wireless Technology

The first generation of wireless mobile communications was based on analog signaling.

Analog systems, implemented in North America, were known as Analog Mobile Phone

Systems (AMPS), while systems implemented in Europe and the rest of the world were

typically identified as a variation of Total Access Communication Systems (TACS).

Analog systems were primarily based on circuit-switched technology and designed for

voice, not data.

3.2 Second Generation Wireless Technology

The second generation (2G) of the wireless mobile network was based on low-band

digital data signaling. The most popular 2G wireless technologies is known as Global

Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM). GSM systems, first implemented in 1991,

are now operating in about 140 countries and territories around the world. An estimated

248 million users now operate over GSM systems. GSM technology is a combination of

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access

(TDMA). The first GSM systems used a 25MHz frequency spectrum in the 900MHz

band. FDMA is used to divide the available 25MHz of bandwidth into 124 carrier

frequencies of 200kHz each. Each frequency is then divided using a TDMA scheme into

eight timeslots. The use of separate timeslots for transmission and reception simplifies

the electronics in the mobile units. Today, GSM systems operate in the 900MHz and 1.8

GHz bands throughout the world with the exception of the Americas where they operate

in the 1.9 GHz band.

In addition to GSM, a similar technology, called Personal Digital Communications

(PDC), using TDMA-based technology, emerged in Japan. Since then, several other

TDMA-based systems have been deployed worldwide and serve an estimated 89 million

people worldwide. While GSM technology was developed in Europe, Code Division

Multiple Access (CDMA) technology was developed in North America. CDMA uses

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spread spectrum technology to break up speech into small, digitized segments and

encodes them to identify each call. CDMA systems have been implemented worldwide in

about 30 countries and serve an estimated 44 million subscribers.

While GSM and other TDMA-based systems have become the dominant 2G wireless

technologies, CDMA technology is recognized as providing clearer voice quality with

less background noise, fewer dropped calls, enhanced security, greater reliability and

greater network capacity. The Second Generation (2G) wireless networks mentioned

above are also mostly based on circuit-switched technology. 2G wireless networks are

digital and expand the range of applications to more advanced voice services, such as

Called Line Identification. 2G wireless technologies can handle some data capabilities

such as fax and short message service at the data rate of up to 9.6 kbps, but it is not

suitable for web browsing and multimedia applications.

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4. Next Generation Mobile Networks

4.1 Second Generation (2G+) Wireless Networks

As stated in a previous section, the virtual explosion of Internet usage has had a

tremendous impact on the demand for advanced wireless data communication services.

However, the effective data rate of 2G circuit-switched wireless systems is relatively

slow -- too slow for today's Internet. As a result, GSM, PDC and other TDMA-based

mobile system providers and carriers have developed 2G+ technology that is packet-

based and increases the data communication speeds to as high as 384kbps. These 2G+

systems are based on the following technologies: High Speed Circuit-Switched Data

(HSCSD), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data Rates for Global

Evolution (EDGE) technologies.

HSCSD is one step towards 3G wideband mobile data networks. This circuit-switched

technology improves the data rates up to 57.6kbps by introducing 14.4 kbps data coding

and by aggregating 4 radio channels timeslots of 14.4 kbps.

GPRS is an intermediate step that is designed to allow the GSM world to implement a

full range of Internet services without waiting for the deployment of full-scale 3G

wireless systems. GPRS technology is packet-based and designed to work in parallel with

the 2G GSM, PDC and TDMA systems that are used for voice communications and for

table look-up to obtain GPRS user profiles in the Location Register databases. GPRS uses

a multiple of the 1 to 8 radio channel timeslots in the 200kHz-frequency band allocated

for a carrier frequency to enable data speeds of up to 115kbps. The data is packetized and

transported over Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN) using an IP backbone so that

mobile users can access services on the Internet, such as SMTP/POP-based e-mail, ftp

and HTTP-based Web services. For more information on GPRS, please see Trillium's

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) White Paper at http://www.trillium.com/whats-

new/wp_gprs.html

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EDGE technology is a standard that has been specified to enhance the throughput per

timeslot for both HSCSD and GPRS. The enhancement of HSCSD is called ECSD,

whereas the enhancement of GPRS is called EGPRS. In ECSD, the maximum data rate

will not increase from 64 kbps due to the restrictions in the A interface, but the data rate

per timeslot will triple. Similarly, in EGPRS, the data rate per timeslot will triple and the

peak throughput, including all eight timeslots in the radio interface, will exceed 384 kbps.

GPRS networks consist of an IP-based Public Mobile Land Network (PLMN), Base

Station Services (BSS), Mobile handsets (MS), and Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) for

circuit-switched network access and databases. The Serving GPRS Support Nodes

(SGSN) and Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN) make up the PLMN. Roaming is

accommodated through multiple PLMNs. SGSN and GGSN interface with the Home

Location Register (HLR) to retrieve the mobile user's profiles to facilitate call

completion. GGSN provides the connection to external Packet Data Network (PDN), e.g.

an Internet backbone or an X.25 network. The BSS consists of Base Transceiver Stations

and Base Station Controllers. The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) receives and transmits

over the air interfaces (CDMA, TDMA), providing wireless voice and data connectivity

to the mobile handsets. Base Station Controllers (BSC) route the data calls to the packet-

switched PLMN over a Frame Relay (FR) link and the voice calls to the Mobile

Switching Center (MSC). MSC switches the voice calls to circuit-switched PLMN

network such as PSTN and ISDN. MSC accommodates the Visitor Location Register

(VLR) to store the roaming subscriber information. The reverse process happens at the

destination PLMN and the destination BSS. On the data side, the BSC routes the data

calls to the SGSN, and then the data is switched to the external PDN through the GGSN

or to another mobile subscriber.

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Figure 1 shows a GPRS network.

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Figure 2 shows the protocols used in BTS, BSC, SGSN, GGSN, and mobile handsets:

The following is a brief description of each protocol layer in the GPRS network

infrastructure:

Sub-Network Dependent Convergence Protocol (SNDCP): protocol that maps

a network-level protocol, such as IP or X.25, to the underlying logical link

control. SNDCP also provides other functions such as compression, segmentation

and multiplexing of network-layer messages to a single virtual connection.

Logical Link Control (LLC): a data link layer protocol for GPRS which

functions similar to Link Access Protocol – D (LAPD). This layer assures the

reliable transfer of user data across a wireless network.

Base Station System GPRS Protocol (BSSGP): processes routing and quality of

service (QoS) information for the BSS. BSSGP uses the Frame Relay Q.922 core

protocol as its transport mechanism.

GPRS Tunnel Protocol (GTP): protocol that tunnels the protocol data units

through the IP backbone by adding routing information. GTP operates on top of

TCP/UDP over IP.

GPRS Mobility Management (GMM/SM): protocol that operates in the

signalling plane of GPRS, handles mobility issues such as roaming,

authentication, selection of encryption algorithms and maintains PDP context.

Network Service: protocol that manages the convergence sub-layer that operates

between BSSGP and the Frame Relay Q.922 Core by mapping BSSGP's service

requests to the appropriate Frame Relay services.

BSSAP+: protocol that enables paging for voice connections from MSC via

SGSN, thus optimizing paging for mobile subscribers. BSSAP+ is also

responsible for location and routing updates as well as mobile station alerting.

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SCCP, MTP3, MTP2 are protocols used to support Mobile Application Part

(MAP) and BSSAP+ in circuit switched PLMNs.

Mobile Application Part (MAP): supports signaling between SGSN/GGSN and

HLR/AuC/EIR.

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4.2 Third Generation (3G) Wireless Networks

3G wireless technologies represents the convergence of various 2G wireless

telecommunications systems into a single global system that includes both terrestrial and

satellite components. One of the most important aspects of 3G wireless technologies is its

ability to unify existing cellular standards, such as CDMA, GSM, and TDMA, under one

umbrella. The following three air interface modes accomplish this result: wideband

CDMA, CDMA2000 and the Universal Wireless Communication (UWC-136) interfaces.

Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) is compatible with the current 2G GSM networks

prevalent in Europe and parts of Asia. W-CDMA will require bandwidth of between

5Mhz and 10Mhz, making it a suitable platform for higher capacity applications. It can be

overlaid onto existing GSM, TDMA (IS-36) and IS95 networks. Subscribers are likely to

access 3G wireless services initially via dual band terminal devices. W-CDMA networks

will be used for high-capacity applications and 2G digital wireless systems will be used

for voice calls. The second radio interface is CDMA2000 which is backward compatible

with the second generation CDMA IS-95 standard predominantly used in US. The third

radio interface, Universal Wireless Communications – UWC-136, also called IS-136HS,

was proposed by the TIA and designed to comply with ANSI-136, the North American

TDMA standard.

3G wireless networks consist of a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a core network. The

core network consists of a packet-switched domain, which includes 3G SGSNs and

GGSNs, which provide the same functionality that they provide in a GPRS system, and a

circuit-switched domain, which includes 3G MSC for switching of voice calls. Charging

for services and access is done through the Charging Gateway Function (CGF), which is

also part of the core network. RAN functionality is independent from the core network

functionality. The access network provides a core network technology independent

access for mobile terminals to different types of core networks and network services.

Either core network domain can access any appropriate RAN service; e.g. it should be

possible to access a “speech” radio access bearer from the packet-switched domain.

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The Radio Access Network consists of new network elements, known as Node B and

Radio Network Controllers (RNCs). Node B is comparable to the Base Transceiver

Station in 2G wireless networks. RNC replaces the Base Station Controller. It provides

the radio resource management, handover control and support for the connections to

circuit-switched and packet-switched domains. The interconnection of the network

elements in RAN and between RAN and core network is over Iub, Iur and Iu interfaces

based on ATM as a layer 2 switching technology. Data services run from the terminal

device over IP, which in turn uses ATM as a reliable transport with QoS. Voice is

embedded into ATM from the edge of the network (Node B) and is transported over

ATM out of the RNC. The Iu interface is split into 2 parts: circuit-switched and packet-

switched. The Iu interface is based on ATM with voice traffic embedded on virtual

circuits using AAL2 technology and IP-over-ATM for data traffic using AAL5

technology. These traffic types are switched independently to either 3G SGSN for data or

3G MSC for voice.

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17

Figure 3 shows the 3G wireless network architecture.

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Figure 4 shows protocols used in Node B, RNC and mobile handsets.

The following is a brief description of each protocol layer in a 3G wireless network

infrastructure:

Global Mobility Management (GMM): protocol that includes attach, detach,

security, and routing area update functionality.

Node B Application Part (NBAP): provides procedures for paging distribution,

broadcast system information and management of dedicated and logical resources.

Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP): maps higher level characteristics

onto the characteristics of the underlying radio-interface protocols. PDCP also

provides protocol transparency for higher layer protocols.

Radio Link Control (RLC): provides a logical link control over the radio

interface.

Medium Access Control (MAC): controls the access signaling (request and

grant) procedures for the radio channel.

Radio resource Control (RRC): manages the allocation and maintenance of

radio communication paths.

Radio Access Network Application Protocol (RANAP): encapsulates higher

layer signaling. Manages the signaling and GTP connections between RNC and

3G-SGSN, and signaling and circuit-switched connections between RNC and 3G

MSC.

Radio Network Service Application Part (RNSAP): provides the

communication between RNCs.

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GPRS Tunnel Protocol (GTP): protocol that tunnels the protocol data units

through the IP backbone by adding routing information. GTP operates on top of

TCP/UDP over IP.

Mobile Application Part (MAP): supports signaling between SGSN/GGSN and

HLR/AuC/EIR.

AAL2 Signaling (Q.2630.1, Q.2150.1, Q.2150.2, AAL2 SSSAR, and AAL2

CPS): protocols suite used to transfer voice over ATM backbone using ATM

adaptation layer 2.

Sigtran (SCTP, M3UA): protocols suite used to transfer SCN signaling protocols

over IP network.

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4.2.1 Cellular Standards for the Third Generation: The ITU's IMT-2000 family

It is in the mid-1980s that the concept for IMT – 2000, “International Mobile

Telecommunications”, was born at the ITU as the third generation system for mobile

communications. After over ten years of hard work under the leadership of the ITU, a

historic decision was taken in the year 2000: unanimous approval of the technical

specifications for third generation systems under the brand IMT-2000. The spectrum

between 400 MHz and 3 GHz is technically suitable for the third generation. The entire

telecommunication industry, including both industry and national and regional standards-

setting bodies gave a concerted effort to avoiding the fragmentation that had thus far

characterized the mobile market. This approval meant that for the first time, full

interoperability and interworking of mobile systems could be achieved. IMT-2000 is the

result of collaboration of many entities, inside the ITU (ITU-R and ITU-T), and outside

the ITU ( 3GPP, 3GPP2, UWCC and so on)

IMT-2000 offers the capability of providing value-added services and applications on the

basis of a single standard. The system envisages a platform for distributing converged

fixed, mobile, voice, data, Internet and multimedia services. One of its key visions is to

provide seamless global roaming, enabling users to move across borders while using the

same number and handset. IMT-2000 also aims to provide seamless delivery of services,

over a number of media (satellite, fixed, etc…). It is expected that IMT-2000 will

provide higher transmission rates: a minimum speed of 2Mbit/s for stationary or walking

users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle. Second-generation systems only provide

speeds ranging from 9.6 kbit/s to 28.8 kbit/s. In addition, IMT-2000 has the following

key characteristics:

Flexibility

With the large number of mergers and consolidations occurring in the mobile

industry, and the move into foreign markets, operators wanted to avoid having to

support a wide range of different interfaces and technologies. This would surely

have hindered the growth of 3G worldwide. The IMT-2000 standard addresses

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this problem, by providing a highly flexible system, capable of supporting a wide

range of services and applications. The IMT-2000 standard accommodates five

possible radio interfaces based on three different access technologies (FDMA,

TDMA and CDMA):  

Affordability

There was agreement among industry that 3G systems had to be affordable, in

order to encourage their adoption by consumers and operators.

Compatibility with existing systems

IMT-2000 services have to be compatible with existing systems. 2G systems,

such as the GSM standard (prevalent in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa) will

continue to exist for some time and compatibility with these systems must be

assured through effective and seamless migration paths.

Modular Design

The vision for IMT-2000 systems is that they must be easily expandable in order

to allow for growth in users, coverage areas, and new services, with minimum

initial investment.

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4.3 Comparison of 2G and 3G Mobile Networks

As mentioned above, although there are many similarities between 2G and 3G wireless

networks (and many of the 2G and 3G components are shared or connected through

interworking functions), there are also many differences between the two technologies.

Table 1 compares the differences between the core network, the radio portion and other

areas of the two networks.

Table 1: Comparison between 2G+ and 3G wireless networks

Feature 2G 2G+ 3G

Core Network MSC/VLR, GMSC,

HLR/AuC/EIR

MM, CM, BSSAP,

SCCP,

ISUP,TCAP, MAP,

MTP 3,

MTP 2, MTP 1

TDM transport

MSC/VLR, GMSC,

SGSN,

GGSN,

HLR/AuC/EIR, CGF

GMM/SM/SMS, MM,

CM, GTP,

SNDCP,NS, FR, LLC,

BSSGP, BSSAP,

BSSAP+, SCCP,

TCAP, MAP, ISUP,

MTP 3, MTP 2, MTP

1

TDM, Frame Relay

transport

3G MSC/VLR (with

added interworking

and transcoding),

GMSC,

HLR/AuC/EIR, 3G-

SGSN,

GGSN, CGF

GMM/

SM,MM,CM,BSSAP,

RANAP,GTP,SCCP,

MTP3B, M3UA,

SCTP,

Q.2630.1 (NNI),

TCAP,

MAP, ISUP, MTP 3,

MTP MTP 1, Q.2140,

SSCOP

ATM, IP transport

Radio Access BTS, BSC, MS BTS, BSC, MS Node B, RNC, MS

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FDMA, TDMA,

CDMA

MM, CM, RR,

LAPDm,

LAPD, BSSAP,

SCCP,

MTP 3, MTP 2, MTP

1

TDMA, CDMA,

EDGE

MAC, RLC,

GMM/SM/SMS,

LLC, SNDCP,

BSSGP, FR,RR,

BSSAP, SCCP, MTP

3, MTP 2, MTP 1

W-CDMA,

CDMA2000,

IWC-136

GMM/SM, MAC,

RLC,

PDCP,RRC,Q.2630.1(

NNI),NBAP, RNSAP,

RANAP, SCCP,

MTP3B,

M3UA, SCTP, GTP-

U, Q.2140, Q.2130,

SSCOP,

CIP

Handsets Voice only terminals New type of terminal

Dual mode TDMA

and CDMA

Voice and data

terminals

WAP, no multimedia

support

New type of terminal

Multiple modes

Voice, data and video

terminals

WAP, multimedia

mgmt

Databases HLR, VLR, EIR, AuC HLR, VLR, EIR, AuC Enhanced HLR, VLR,

EIR,AuC

Data Rates Up to 9.6 Kbps Up to 57.6 Kbps

(HSCSD)

Up to 115Kbps

(GPRS)

Up to 384 Kbps

(EDGE)

Up to 2Mbps

Applications Advanced voice, Short SMS, Internet Internet, multimedia

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Message Service

(SMS)

Roaming Restricted, not global Restricted, not global Global

Compatibility Not compatible to 3G Not compatible to 3G Compatible to 2G,

2G+ and Bluetooth

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5. Evolution to 3G Wireless Technology

Initially, 3G wireless technology will be deployed as "islands" in business areas where

more capacity and advanced services are demanded. A complete evolution to 3G wireless

technology is mandated by the end of 2000 in Japan (mostly due to capacity

requirements) and by the end of 2001 in Europe. NTT DoCoMo is deploying 3G wireless

services in Japan in the third quarter of 2000. In contrast, there is no similar mandate in

North America and it is more likely that competition will drive the deployment of 3G

wireless technology in that region. For example, Nextel Communications has announced

that it will be deploying 3G wireless services in North America during the fourth quarter

of 2000.

The implementation of 3G wireless systems raises several critical issues, such as the

successful backward compatibility to air interfaces as well as to deployed infrastructures.

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5.1 Interworking with 2G and 2G+ Wireless Networks

The existence of legacy networks in most regions of the world highlights the challenge

that communications equipment manufacturers face when implementing next-generation

wireless technology. Compatibility and interworking between the new 3G wireless

systems and the old legacy networks must be achieved in order to ensure the acceptance

of new 3G wireless technology by service providers and end-users.

The existing core technology used in mobile networks is based on traditional circuit-

switched technology for delivery of voice services. However, this traditional technology

is inefficient for the delivery of multimedia services. The core switches for next-

generation of mobile networks will be based on packet-switched technology which is

better suited for data and multimedia services.

Second generation GSM networks consist of BTS, BSC, MSC/VLR and HLR/AuC/EIR

network elements. The interfaces between BTS, BSC and MSC/VLR elements are

circuit-switched PCM. GPRS technology adds a parallel packet-switched core network.

The 2G+ network consists of BSC with packet interfaces to SGSN, GGSN,

HLR/AuC/EIR. The interfaces between BSC and SGSN network elements are either

Frame Relay and/or ATM so as to provide reliable transport with Quality of Service

(QoS).

3G wireless technology introduces new Radio Access Network (RAN) consisting of

Node B and RNC network elements. The 3G Core Network consists of the same entities

as GSM and GPRS: 3G MSC/VLR, GMSC, HLR/AuC/EIR, 3G-SGSN, and GGSN. IP

technology is used end-to-end for multimedia applications and ATM technology is used

to provide reliable transport with QoS.

3G wireless solutions allow for the possibility of having an integrated network for circuit-

switched and packet-switched services by utilizing ATM technology. The BSC may

evolve into an RNC by using add-on cards or additional hardware that is co-located. The

carrier frequency (5Mhz) and the bands (2.5 to 5Ghz) are different for 3G wireless

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technology compared to 2G/2G+ wireless technology. Evolution of BSC to RNC requires

support for new protocols such as PDCP, RRC, RANAP, RNSAP and NBAP. Therefore,

BTS' evolution into Node B may prove to be difficult and may represent significant

capital expenditure on the part of network operators.

MSC evolution depends on the selection of a fixed network to carry the requested

services. If an ATM network is chosen, then ATM protocols will have to be supported in

3G MSC along with interworking between ATM and existing PSTN/ISDN networks.

The evolution of SGSN and GGSN to 3G nodes is relatively easier. Enhancements to

GTP protocol and support for new RANAP protocol are necessary to support 3G wireless

systems. ATM protocols need to be incorporated to transport the services. The HLR

databases evolve into 3G-HLR by adding 3G wireless user profiles. The VLR database

must also be updated accordingly. The EIR database needs to change to accommodate

new equipment that will be deployed for 3G wireless systems. Finally, global roaming

requires compatibility to existing deployment and graceful fallback to an available level

when requested services are not available in the region. Towards this end, the Operator

Harmonization Group (OHG) is working closely with 3G Partnership Projects (3GPP and

3GPP2) to come up with global standards for 3G wireless protocols.

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5.2 3G Licensing in Asia

Beside Japan, other Asian countries which have embarked on the 3G technologies and

services are South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Despite the

geographical proximity, there is a wide gap in the development of telecommunications

markets among Asian countries, and thus their 3G licensing timeframe.

Details of 3G Licensing in Asia are given in Table 2.

Table 2 : 3G Licensing in Asia

Country Issue Date No. of License Licensing Method

Licensee

Pioneers in 3G Licensing

Japan Jun-00 3 Beauty Contest NTT DoCoMo, J-Phone, KDDI

South Korea Dec-00 2 out of 3 Licenses issued

Beauty Contest SK Telecom,Korea Telecom

Regions with the Highest Mobile Penetration Rate

Australia Mar-01 48 out of 58 lots of spectrum sold

Spectrum Auction, with spectrum divided into 58 lots

Telstra, Vodafone,Optus, 3G Investment, Hutchison,CKW Wireless

Singapore Apr-01 3 out of 4 Licenses issued

Spectrum Auction, withPre-qualification process

Singtel, M1, StarHub

Hong Kong Oct-01 4 Spectrum Auction, withpre-qualification process

HK CSL, Hutchsion,SmarTone, SUNDAY

Taiwan Oct-01 5 Spectrum Auction

Second Wave in 3G Licensing

MalaysiaMalaysia has awarded 3G license to Telekom Malaysia Berhad and Maxis in year 2002 through beauty contest.

ChinaThailandPhilippineIndonesia

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5.3 Variety of Mobile Multimedia Service - Applications for 3G Network and

wireless Services

Scenario AYou are out doing some errands on a weekend evening and want to get together with some friends for a movie and dinner. Since it's a Saturday night, the chances are there will be long lines at the theatre, sold out shows for the movie you want to see, and a bunch of other movies playing of which you've never heard. You then pull out your new cell phone with its enhanced screen and check the listing of all the movies at the theatre. You also view clips from the movies as well. Using the same device, you select the movie you want to see, buy the tickets online, and then use the instant messaging function to let your friends who are meeting you know which movie you have selected.

Scenario BSince you know that the restaurant across the street is going to be busy after the movie, you decided to make reservations for you and your friends. After the show, once you and your friends get to the restaurant, you call up on your wireless phone the restaurant's discount coupon and pay for dinner - avoiding using cash or a credit card.

It is currently difficult to imagine the implications for electronic commerce in economies that develop broadband mobile access to the Internet and data services that make the above scenario possible. However, with 3G, the possibilities for wireless applications are numerous. For instance, calling up a map in your car, conducting a video conference over wireless phones, checking e-mails, and browsing the web - all without wires.

3G will extend the convenience and freedom of today's digital phones with a “always-on” Internet connection. They will also deliver a tenfold increase in speed - up to 2 megabits per second - for sending information from business data to video and games for kids. There will also be new devices; a cross between today's mobile phones and personal assistants like the Palm Pilot. These new devices will be online all the time. Hence, in a 3G world, users won't always need to 'dial up' to retrieve email, multimedia attachments and other data. It will simply be downloaded to their mobile devices as soon as it is sent or requested. Table 3 illustrates some of the mobile multimedia services (not all are 3G) that have been launched or being on test in some countries.

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Table 3 : Examples of Mobile Multimedia Services (MMS) launched/on test

Country MMS / Year Launched Technology Remark

Japan 1. Car Navigation Service – Mar

2000

2. Advertisement distribution – Jun

2000

3. Remote sensing/control - Wireless

POS system for vending machine –

Jul 2000

4. Music Distribution – Jan 2001

5. Video Clipping – Nov 2001

3G These services are available on i-mode (Interactive Mode)

Philippines 1. Smart Money – Electronic Cash

Transfer

2. Entertainment on 2G

Logos and Ring Tones Cinema Club Text to Millions

2G Focus on immediate, low cost access to Internet and low bandwidth applications (mostly SMS text-based)

Isle of Man 1. Video Telephony

2. On-line Games

3. Live and Archive Video

4. Location Services

5. Information Services

6. Mobile Office

3G The applications are selected to demonstrate the capability of 3G (compared to 2.5G).

UK

(Vodafone)

1. Eurocall Roaming – launched in

2001

2. Virtual Home Environment

3. Mobile Voice & email

4. Ring tones/screensavers/icons

5. Games (Who Wants to be a

Millionaire)

6. Location based services

3G

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Malaysia 1. Short Message Service (SMS) 2G Testing is being done by

Telekom on GPRS (2.5G)

US Not Available 2G The US has not yet managed to agree what spectrum will be available for 3G and so operators are finding ways to extend the life of their current assets by deploying evolutions of their existing technologies on 2G spectrums.

5.4 The Challenges of the 3G Wireless Service

Some of the challenges confronting the wireless carrier in venturing into the 3G wireless

services are as follows:-

Spectrum and investment in 3G is expensive

Is there a business case for 3G wireless services in the enterprise? What can't we

do now that we need 3G to help us do?

Building a viable business model and establishing effective partnerships with

content providers. The content providers play a major role in the distribution of

multimedia content.

Access coverage need to be maximized. Roaming agreement is crucial to

maximizing coverage.

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5.5 Implications On Electronic Government (EG) in Malaysia

The selling point of 3G lays in its features of high speed (bigger bandwidth), always-on,

geographical spread, multiple delivery channel (mobile phone, PDA etc.) and mobility.

With these features, there is a possibility that 3G could be utilized to meet or address

some of the current EG’s expectations and issues face by the Government of Malaysia.

1. Bringing the e-Services application to the palm of the citizen

E-services will no longer be restricted to wired devices like kiosks, PCs,

telephone, fax or interactive TV. With 3G (maybe 2G or 2.5G), the mobile

cellular phone or the PDA will allow citizen to pay summons, bills and etc

anywhere and anytime in mobility.

2. An alternative to non-availability of wired communication services

There are numerous cases where dial-up or leased lines services could not be

provided to EG pilot sites (both in urban and remote locations) for the roll-out of

EG projects due to the inavailability of communication infrastructure. An

alternative way of providing connectivity services to those sites could be the

usage of 3G technology.

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6.0 Summary View On 3G

3G will represent the following :

3G can be thought of as 2.5G services such as GPRS plus entertainment

(games, video, mobile multimedia) plus new terminals. 3G brings with it

significantly more bandwidth, whereas, GPRS terminals will have a

similar range of form factors as today’s 2G phones do, many 3G terminals

will be video centric. Most 3G terminals will be dual mode 2G/ 3G in the

early years.

There is a clear business case for investing in 3G for existing network

operators that are facing congested 2G networks. Voice traffic over 3G

networks will be the cash cow that supports and ensures the 3G business

case can pay for itself. The main positive (rather than defensive) reason

for mobile network operators to secure 3G network licenses is to solve

capacity issues in terms of enabling far greater call capacity than today’s

digital mobile networks allow.

Non-voice (data) traffic will also be huge, with new mobile multimedia

applications such as mobile postcards, movies and music driving new

applications and services alongside corporate applications. Applications

and services available through the Internet, intranet and extranet will drive

the interest in and traffic on 3G networks.

Providing that network operators adopt an open model to all Internet

traffic, the business case for 3G, fuelled by both greater data and voice

traffic is clear. Mobile Streams is confident that the business case for

winning and rolling out a 3G network is compelling. If the network

operator insists upon a closed model in which data traffic is funnelled

primarily through its own in-house portal or limits access to its customers

for e-Commerce and other Internet services, the business case is

endangered.

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Third Generation technology is essential- think about the huge change that

will happen in the next five years from today’s rudimentary and crude text

services such as Short Message Service to moving video clips.

It is often assumed that early adopters will be corporate customers for 3G,

but Mobile Streams expects that consumer electronics devices, as their

name suggests, will appeal to consumer markets and they will have 3G

built in. Mobile multimedia- games, entertainment and the like are much

more consumer oriented than suited for sober suited business people.

Mobile Streams expects 3G to be a consumer revolution as well as a

corporate one.

Many people will not have a fixed phone at home. One thing preventing

this until now has been the slow speed of mobile data in 2G (and even so

called 2.5G technology) that has made Internet access the principle

application for home phones.

There will be a lot of suppliers of mobile handheld computer software

suppliers (Palm, Symbian, Microsoft), Japanese companies, information

appliance and IT suppliers enter the global mobile terminal market.

Mobile enabled devices will proliferate as all (portable) consumer

electronics devices get mobile communications (and short range wireless

communications) technology built-in. The successful handset vendors will

be those that can deliver new products rapidly and reliably. In a non-

portable sense, even fridges are being fitted with Bluetooth short-range

radio capability.

Given the fragmented market for wireless phones, alliances and mergers

between Korean, Japanese, European and American mobile phone and

consumer electronics manufacturers will continue and accelerate since few

if any companies have all the enabling technologies in-house from video

to camera to mobile to interfaces. Smaller players in all of these sectors

will continue to consolidate, as companies such as Sagem and Benefon

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(with data skills and location centric smart phones respectively) are

acquired to gain better distribution for their technologies.

3G terminals will be significantly more complex than today’s GSM

phones, because of the need to support video, more storage, more

interfaces, multiple modes, new applications and new software, better

battery life and so on. The biggest single inhibitor of take up of new

services based on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), High Speed

Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) and General Packet Radio Service

(GPRS) has already proven to be a lack of handsets. Most technology

stages in the data evolution path for GSM from today to 3G require a new

handset. Once again we see that terminals are mission critical and their

timely volume availability will be crucial factor in determining when 3G

is a success.

Partnerships will increasingly develop between Internet, IT and IP

companies, traditional mobile communications vendors and consumer

electronics manufacturers. Different regions have different strengths and

are likely to leverage them through strategic alliances.

From a network operator technology point of view, the introduction of

packet data services such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS- an

entry level mobile packet data service) to circuit switched networks is as

challenging as the move from GPRS to 3G- this is because GPRS is the

first time addition of packet capability to a circuit switched network,

whereas 3G is the addition of more packets. 3G substantially enhances the

complexity of the mobile network in terms of the number of platforms

where customer data is held, messaging infrastructure to support the

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) bandwidth, terminals and

applications that will be used and so on.

From an end user point of view, the move from GPRS to 3G is also much

more revolutionary than the move from Second Generation data services

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to GPRS. GPRS allows the mobile network to catch up with the data

bandwidths available over

7. Conclusion

Concerns have been raised about the third generation mobile phone service, which is

being rolled out in a world first in Japan. Japan Telecommunication Company, DoCoMo

has rolled out the service, allowing consumers to watch videos, download material from

the Internet and video conferencing on their mobiles. It has opened up a new world of

telecommunications. However, companies involved should be warned of the huge risk in

investing in the 3G. Trials of 3G by several operators have seen some teething problems

and consumers have expressed concerns about the high cost of the new technology.

Lesson from Hong Kong, which was made, known in the Third-Generation (3G) Mobile

World Summit, Japan in January 2002 was that mobile services should be first built on

existing 2G or 2.5G digital networks. The next step will only be the 3G networks when

the demand and requirement for higher bandwidth has arrived. It was also proven that the

mobile services in the Philippines were running well on the 2G technology.

However, expanded Internet access is going to change societies around the world as the

Internet has become a major driving force in the economic expansion of most countries -

offering new opportunities in education, healthcare, and commerce. The Internet will

significantly change Asia and Europe as more people come on-line through the use of

third generation wireless services. In summary, the Internet is going wireless, and

Malaysia should be aggressive in the 3G race if we wish to remain competitive. Work has

already begun on the development of fourth generation (4G) technologies in Japan.

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Reference :

Integration of 802.11 and Third-Generation Wireless Data Networks , IEEE INFOCOM 2002, M. Buddhikot, G. Chandranmenon, S. Han, Y. W. Lee, S. Miller, L. SalgarelliBell Labs, Lucent Technologies, NJ USA

Third Generation (3G) Wireless White Paperhttp://www.trillium.com

A History of Third Generation Mobile 3G,March 2003Nokia Networks

3G Business evolution technology trends and market forecast, Lars Bjorck, Ericsson Korea.

Business Wire, Feb 25, 2000

Mobile Data Handbook, The Road to Mobile Internet by Merrill Lynch, 24 September 1999

3G PATENT PLATFORM for THIRD GENERATION MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS DEFINITION, FUNCTION, STRUCTURE, OPERATION, GOVERNANCE, 28 May 2002http://www.3Gpatents.com

http://www.3g3d.com

http://www.mobile4g.com/report.asp

http://www.itu.int

http://www.nwfusion.com

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