Article reproduced from GSM World Focus 2001 with the kind permission of Informa Business Publishing Ltd.

The promise of 3G technologies is a combination of high-speed wireless access with Internet Protocol (IP)-based services that will bring the world to our fingertips. It is a world in which we will be able to check emails, book holidays, organise share portfolios, hold videoconferences or download video clips of the latest film, instantly and simply, from our mobiles. The capability of mobile networks to pinpoint a mobile user's location opens up opportunities for the creation of new 'situational' services - for example, traffic reports, or information on, and directions to, the nearest restaurant or hotel.

However, mobile networks are not yet equipped to deal with high-speed mobile Internet, intranet, video and other data-oriented services. That, perhaps, is why the migration to 3G is often presented as a revolution, requiring new network structures and the establishment of a new communications system. However, for GSM operators, with the right planning, it will be an evolutionary rather than revolutionary process.

GPRS is the evolutionary step that introduces packet-switching capability into GSM networks, enabling user data rates of up to 115 kbps - twice as fast as the analogue dial-up moderns often used for data communications over wired networks. GPRS makes optimum use of available radio spectrum and channels. Combined with WAP, the 'always on' capability of GPRS will make access to mobile Internet and future multimedia services from hand-held mobile terminals virtually instantaneous to users. Users will have a virtual 'connection' at all times: network resources will only be used when data is actually being transmitted or received. Deploying GPRS infrastructure is fast and cost-efficient, resulting in a huge advance in service capabilities for operators, for relatively small investment. Most GSM networks are planning to offer GPRS services in 2001.

EDGE is a standardised improvement to the GSM radio interface and one of the ITU's 3G radio standards (IMT-SC). Its new modulation scheme delivers higher data rates and spectral efficiency (the gain is two to three times GPRS performance), and improved coverage. It can be applied to both packet-switched and circuit-switched scenarios and provides user data rates up to 384kbps (wide area) and 554 kbps (local area). In many situations speeds in excess of 150 kbps will be achievable, more than sufficient for most envisaged services to meet market needs for several years.

Many GSM operators will use EDGE as a stepping stone towards full implementation of UMTS/IMT-2000, or to provide wide-area coverage in combination with UMTS in high-density areas. Others will be able to use it to create an infrastructure that in many ways will be competitive with UMTS and able to offer a similar range of services.

An incumbent GSM operator with a UMTS/IMT-2000 license can win higher market share using EDGE. Why? Because it: :

-		Uses existing resources, competencies and processes
-		Builds coverage more quickly and economically
-		Leverages earlier handset volumes, thus helping operators to gain early market entry
-		Offers low-cost capacity for voice and 3G data mass market
-		Offers an attractive business case
-		Delivers the extra capacity that high packet usage demands
-		Allows operators to focus UMTS deployment on key areas using EDGE as a complementary service
-		De-risks UMTS investments
-		Allows a very fast global footprint.

For the GSM or IS-136 operators unable to access new spectrum, EDGE is an ideal evolution path for three reasons: it offers improved spectral efficiency; it delivers increased capacity; and it is covered by existing licences.

Users will receive faster services and net surfing, as well as an enhanced mobile multimedia services experience. This will include simultaneous voice/web connection, video calls and enhanced speech quality, at lower cost.

EDGE is a natural step in the GSM data evolution towards UMTS/IMT-2000. It also opens the way for dual-mode TDMA/GSM terminals. The question is - who is brave enough not to deploy it?

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