Informa news: Singapore — 3G needs 70% more BSS than GSM1800

Singapore Cellco M1 has this month completed a study that indicated that 3G will require 70% more base stations than GSM1800 network, chief executive Neil Montefiore revealed. Montefiore's comments, delivered at the GSM Association's plenary meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, fly in the face of more conservative estimates given out by many vendors and operators. Speaking at the same event, Lucent Technologies' president for UMTS/3G John Hughes said it was unlikely that 3G would result in a huge proliferation of cell sites because of heavy re-use of 2G/2.5G infrastructure.

Uncertainty over base station requirements feeds into the larger debate over 3G rollout costs. 3G licensees are still trying top figure out the correct balance between GPRS/EDGE and 3G. Matti Makkonen, executive VP of Sonera, said that the Finnish operator will incorporate 3G into the overall 2.5G/3G investment plan. Sonera will invest Euro 180 million (US4156 million) per year on its 2.5G/3G network over the next few years, according to Makkonen.

3G will only be deployed in main cities, and there is no long-term plan to extend it to remote areas. "Even to cover 20% of the country [in terms of land mass] would be a lot," Makkonen said. Rather than extending UMTS to remote areas, Sonera is leaving itself the option of deploying EDGE to boost speeds and enable same high-speed applications as in urban areas.

GPRS, on the other hand, will have coverage that matches the GSM voice service. This network covers almost 100% of the population. In Germany, where Sonera jointly owns a 3G license with Telefonica, there will be no decision about how rapidly to roll out UMTS network until rules on roaming become clearer.

Makkonen said both consumer and business applications will be offered GPRS services from day one. This differs, for example, from the UK's BT Cellnet, which is focusing on business applications.

Acknowledgement
Article courtesy of Informa Telecoms and Media, Gilmoora House, London, www.informa.com. Baskerville Communications, part of Informa Telecoms Group

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