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3G Doesn't Mean Three Thousand

© Maureen Fleury

I came across an interesting news article the other day about telecommunications companies in Europe who are spending more than a billion dollars for rights to high-speed wireless Internet services. This is considered a daring venture because of an unproven future market. By contrast, Asia is already into wireless technology. They have cheaper licences and more advanced digital networks. Telecom companies all over the world are in a frenzy to develop new wireless technology that will supposedly bring us speeds 100 times faster than what we experience now.

What should we expect to see?

Third Generation (3G) Technology:

This will be mobile phones that are really handheld computers. These devices will allow the user to make phone calls, send e-mail, broadcast movies, play video games, and take digital photographs. Asia has been targeted for the rollout of 3G because of having upgraded networks already in place. NTT DoCoMo of Japan will be the first in the world to launch 3G services this May in the Tokyo area. Some analyst are fearful that this technology will be expensive and only the very rich will be using this service. There is also the fear that the popularity of intermediate technology will satisfy the user and upgrading to 3G will not be cost-justified.

What is intermediate technology?

I-Mode Technology:

This is an intermediate technology and more than 17 million Japanese already use i-mode phones to exchange text messages, send animated figures and surf Web sites. Problem is that i-mode has limited bandwidth and can't do streaming video. NTT DoCoMo of Japan is working to expand i-mode to other countries in the world this year. This is in addition to their development of 3G technology (looks like they want to keep all their bases covered).

What are other companies doing?

Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS):

Most telecommunications companies are now upgrading networks to the stepping-stone system, known as GPRS. It is designed to transmit data four to six times faster than the current speed, or about as fast as a 56K modem on a personal computer. Phones using this technology will be able to play news and movies through streaming video. This is something we cannot find on wireless phones today. Singapore's, SingTel Mobile will be gradually launching GPRS throughout the region this year.

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No matter how wireless internet technology evolves, we will be looking to Asia for market testing and acceptance. North America has the network technology ready but the cost of upgrading to 3G will be very expensive. Licences are harder to acquire too but the demand is there. Europe is still working on establishing digital networks and that is costly and unproven in user acceptance.

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