3G UMTS Multi-radio Networks Offer the Most Spectrally Efficient Capabilities

3G Americas released a white paper, Data Capabilities for GSM Evolution to UMTS written by wireless research expert Peter Rysavy of Rysavy Research, to showcase information on GSM data capabilities. The Rysavy Research white paper concludes that in comparing EDGE, WCDMA and CDMA2000 1XRTT, EDGE is the most spectrally efficient 3G technology for low speed applications and WCDMA is the most spectrally efficient 3G technology for high speed applications. The conclusions of this paper support the choice made by GSM operators, representing over 85% of the world's next-generation cellular data service subscribers, for the GSM evolution -- GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS.

"It is time to showcase the data capabilities and tremendous technical qualities of the GSM wireless data evolution of GPRS, EDGE, and WCDMA," commented Chris Pearson, Executive Vice President of 3G Americas. "The wireless industry is on the brink of an explosive wireless data uptake with all the pieces in place - the first steps have begun with over 200 GPRS networks deployed, numerous handsets, an ever-growing selection of applications, higher throughput rates, and lower service costs due to increased spectral efficiency."

Vicki Livingston, Director of Marketing for 3G Americas stated, "3G Americas wanted to clearly explain and substantiate the technical story of the GSM family of next-generation technologies through objective research to solidify how UMTS Multi-radio Networks will offer the best capabilities for GSM operators and their customers throughout the world."

"This white paper first describes the data capabilities and data mechanisms of GPRS, EDGE and UMTS, including the efficiency of the data services. It also quantifies performance and capacity of those services and then describes how operators can evolve their networks from GSM to UMTS, contrasting their capabilities with those of other cellular technologies," explained the author, Peter Rysavy, "Rysavy Research worked with top radio engineering teams from both operator and vendor companies to compile and independently develop a composite report. The conclusions in this white paper are well supported throughout the industry."

Important observations and conclusions of the paper include:

GPRS offers a sophisticated always-on IP service for GSM networks and supports a wide range of enterprise and consumer applications.
EDGE doubles GPRS capacity and triples data throughputs.
As one of the first cellular technologies to feature adaptive modulation, coding schemes, and incremental redundancy, EDGE is spectrally more efficient for lower data rates (below 100 Kbit/s) than GPRS, WCDMA, and CDMA2000 1XRTT.
EDGE can readily be deployed in spectrum that operators are using for GSM and GPRS, and in many cases it requires no additional hardware. EDGE traffic can share both spectrum and the transceiver timeslot resources with speech and GPRS traffic.
WCDMA is spectrally more efficient for high-data throughput services than EDGE and CDMA2000 1XRTT. It offers high peak rates, multimedia support, (e.g., conversational video) and advanced quality of service, and is also cost-efficient for high-traffic deployments.
EDGE and WCDMA radio access networks can be combined in one seamless network to provide efficient narrowband and wideband data capabilities, using the same quality-of-service architecture.
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) offers the highest data-throughput rates of any cellular-data technology specified, with peak rates of 10 Mbit/s.
With the UMTS Multi-radio network, a common core network supports GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, and HSDPA, offering high efficiency for both high and low data rates, and for high and low traffic density configurations.
Ongoing UMTS evolution includes significant enhancements with each new specification release, including higher throughput rates, improved multimedia support, and integration with wireless LAN technology.