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Trailblazing on the broadband frontier

While advanced broadband solutions are enabling multimedia content to be delivered to just about any device, millions of users in remote and rural areas still lack simple internet access. Mobile broadband solutions, powered by 3G technology, are helping to close this ‘digital divide’.

September 28, 2006

Wired technologies have until recently been the only way to deliver high-performance broadband services, but major advances in third-generation (3G) mobile technology are beginning to change all of that. New network technologies such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) are helping not only to bring internet access to citizens in inaccessible or undeveloped regions, but also high-speed broadband and advanced communication services. 

Andrei Dulski, marketing manager at Ericsson says that if you don’t have access to broadband services, you are at a great disadvantage as an individual, business or government entity. “Some areas of the world have no fixed infrastructure and it is too costly to build such networks there,” Dulski says. In these areas, the multi-service capability of 3G networks makes it a cost-effective way to not only deliver mobile services to traditional handset users, but also non-mobile services such as fixed-telephony or broadband access to residential or business users.

Delivering 3G services such as WCDMA to a stationary point, also known as a fixed-wireless terminal, is an example of a solution that could potentially bring broadband services to millions of users in remote areas. In many regions where the telecommunications infrastructure is limited or inadequate, a 3G-enabled network solution is ideal for providing premium, cost-effective broadband services. “We probably will see a leapfrog effect where fixed technologies are bypassed altogether and where the 3G-enabled technologies will be the first and only broadband services used by both fixed and mobile users,” Dulski says.

Chips dip into new devices
The economies of scale associated with 3G’s most widely deployed technology, WCDMA, is also a major asset. Because of its multi-service capability, 3G chipsets will begin to find their way into many new devices, including modems for fixed-wireless broadband access, PC cards, and as embedded modules in laptops. This will deliver additional economies of scale for chipset manufacturers and terminal vendors. The Signals Research Group estimates that the global market for HSPA chipsets (including phones, PC cards and embedded modules) will be close to 150 million units in 2008. This compared to the forecasted market for DSL modems (the dominant fixed-broadband technology) in 2008, which is 91 million units.

From Ericsson’s perspective, fixed or mobile solutions for delivering broadband are complementary to each other. A copper network may be the ideal way to deliver broadband services for an operator who already has this infrastructure available. While in rural and remote areas lacking the necessary infrastructure, mobile technologies will play a very important role. Dulski says that Ericsson’s advantage is that it can help any type of customer with any type of technology to succeed with broadband.

However, there are specific mobility needs developing. More and more users are demanding universal availability of their broadband services. “With 3G solutions, an operator can target all the mass-market services such as mobile telephony, advanced mobile services, high-speed internet for fixed and mobile users – in one network that does all of this,” Dulski says.