Ericsson
Mobility World, an application development center under Ericsson Taiwan,
launched the island's first full-fledged commercialized 3G system, offering
operators and content providers a testing environment for their next-generation
mobile Internet services.
During
the news conference, Kurt Hellstrom, president and CEO of the Sweden-based
telecommunications solutions giant, said that 3G would become a fully
mature market by 2005.
3G, or third-generation telecommunications services, will allow more
advanced added-value data services for mobile users, who can, for example,
view downloaded or streaming video content at a data rate of 384 kilobits
per second (Kbps) over the radio spectrum.
Five local mobile operators ¡X Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications,
Taiwan Cellular Corp., Taiwan 3G Mobile Network and Eastern Broadband
Telecom ¡X have obtained 3G licenses this year. All five operators
will launch their services next year.
The newly set up 3G system at Ericsson Mobility World allows both operators
and content developers to conduct 3G-application development, testing,
commercialization, training and overseas marketing, Hellstrom said,
adding those services will effectively lower the cost of 3G development.
"It will stimulate the development of applications for both second-generation
and third-generation services, and will also develop competencies in
this field," Hellstrom said. "We're well prepared to support
future mobile development in Taiwan."
The testing environment offered by the mobility world is based on wideband-CDMA
(code division multiple access) ¡X a 3G standard widely used in
Europe. Another standard, CDMA-2000, is utilized in South Korea, the
United States and other countries.
Some industry experts claim CDMA-2000 is leading the market, as it makes
it easier for operators to upgrade their equipment and is supported
by a wider range of handsets.
Hellstrom, however, explained that is not the case for Taiwan, as GSM/GPRS
¡X the current standard used by local operators ¡X evolves
naturally into W-CDMA. CDMA-2000, he said, is more suitable for operators
currently offering CDMA-1 services.
With the exception of Eastern Broadband Telecom, local operators licensed
to run 3G will launch W-CDMA services.
The soon-to-be-launched dual-mode handset supporting both GSM/GPRS and
W-CDMA represents another draw for local operators to migrate into W-CDMA,
Hellstrom said. With the handset, users at areas not covered by 3G base
stations would see their device automatically switch to the GSM/GPRS
system.
When asked whether 3G would succeed ¡X considering most mobile
subscribers in the Taiwan market still use voice services ¡X Hellstrom
said people have not had the opportunity to see the advantages of mobile
Internet and called on the public to be patient.
"3G has already started. It is not in a satisfactory state. Yet
next year it will get better, as more European operators deploy the
services. Then 2004 will even be better and by 2005 the market will
be fully mature," he said.
During the news conference, Hellstrom made Taiwan's first 3G call, to
Darryl Green, president of the Japan-based J-Phone Co., to demonstrate
to the media what 3G would be like once launched. The images of both
men were transmitted over the radio spectrum and displayed on mobile
devices.
