Technology

Lanka scores a first in 3G mobile technology

by Gamini Warushamana

Sri Lanka has become the first third generation (3G) mobile technology user in the South Asian region. The country was the first user of the 2G mobile technology when Dialog Telekom (DT) introduced the GSM technology in 1995 and the same company introduced 3G technology in August 2006. Telecommunication in the country is a fast growing sector in the economy recording an annual growth of 13%, according to the latest statistics.

CEO of DT Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said Sri Lankans are privileged to enjoy the world's lowest charges for a video telephone call, Rs.10 (US$ 0.1) per minute. In telecommunication technology Sri Lanka is always ahead in the region.

Dr. Wijayasuriya said that to bring the new technology to the country the regulator is important and in Sri Lanka the regulator gave the approval at the right time to start 3G operations. The investor should be ready to accept the risk and DT and Malaysian Telekom, the overseas partner of DT accepted the challenge. "We want to give the best service to our customers and we have the confidence in the market", he said.

This is a huge investment and the licence fee alone was Rs. 500 million. When the technology evolved from 2G to 2.5 G the infrastructure needed only some upgrade. But when it transformed to 3G, it needed new investment for new hardware and new base stations.

What was the advantage of being the first to introduce the world's latest technology to a third world country where over 50% of the people are living below the poverty line?. Dr. Wijayasuriya's view is that this would break the disparity of the general literacy and e-literacy among the people in the country.

Sri Lanka is far ahead in its literacy rate compared to other developing countries. But e-literacy is far below compared to general literacy, Dr. Wijayasuriya said.

The 3G technology will bring the internet access to rural and most underprivileged areas of the country. The technology would be a luxury at this initial stage of introduction. It will be a general medium of communication over time.

Costs will come down with more and more investment coming in to the industry and improvement of the technology. He said that lap-top computer usage is on the increase. The prices of lap-tops are going down while their battery power is improving.

In the future 3G technology and lap-tops would connect the rural areas with the internet where even electricity access is not available. Our policy is to bring the right technology at the right time. Consumers are capable of using it. The consumer will decide and we will see a big difference in the ICT landscape in the country, Dr. Wijayasuriya said.

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Third generation technology

Head, Network Planning of Dialog Telecom Shayam Majeed said that the significant feature of 3G technology is improved spectral efficiency. It has improved about 30 times compared to the early analog systems and thrice the spectral efficiency available in 2G systems.

Spectral efficiency measures the ability of a wireless system to deliver information within a given amount of radio spectrum and is directly related to system capacity. It determines the amount of radio spectrum required to provide a given service (e.g.10 kbps voice service, 100 kbps data service) and the number of base stations required to deliver the service to end users.

3G offers significant capacity improvement over 2G with a better power control mechanism, better voice coding technique and high degree of users per carrier. Therefore 3G systems have increased voice capacity in the system and it is 3-5 times more than 2G.

The Data transmission rate in 2.5 G is 14.5-19.2 kbps and in 3G it has improved to 300-350 kbps. High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) used in 3G information handling speed is as high as 1.5 mbps. With these advanced features 3G mobile technology offers users high quality voice services and higher data rates and multimedia service. Majeed said that 3G means transport and it can be used in many applications such as information services.

(Interactive shopping, location based broadcasting), educational services (virtual schools, on-line library, training), entertainment services (audio on demand, games on demand), community services (emergency services, government procedures), business information (mobile office, virtual workshop), special service (tele-medicine, security services, personal administration), communication services (video telephony, video conference) business and financial services (virtual banking, online billing) DT's 3G network covers the Colombo city limits and the coverage is expanding continuously.

However, when the user moves out from a 3G coverage area the system automatically transferrs to 2G or 2.5 G. Majeed said that due to the high frequency of 3G, the propagation is low and as a result it needs more base stations to expand the 3G coverage.

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Evolution of mobile technology

Mobile telephony has gone through many phases. It was first used for military purposes and it came into commercial operations in the 1980s. The first analog mobile network came into commercial operations in mid 1980s and in Sri Lanka it was started in 1988 by Celltel.

This phase of technology is called the first generation or 1G. There were capacity and system limitations and Spectrum limitations in this 1G mobile systems. It could carry only voice.

Confidentiality issues, limitation to local calls are other limitations of 1G mobile technology. Thereafter the technology evolved to second generation or 2G when the digital network started. Global System for Mobile Communication or (GSM) is one of the digital mobile standards. 2G technology came into operation in the late 1980s. 2G mobile technology addressed many issues in 1G mobile systems.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology in 2G networks offered internet access and other data services. However, there were some capacity and system limitations in the 2G technology.

The technology evolved in the latter part of the 1990s to include packet data. This phase of technology is called 2.5 G. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) provided internet access through the mobile phone to watch TV. Data speed facilitated 56 kbps and with Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution technology or EDGE technology data speed increased to around 100 kbps.

This technology enhanced data communication, access to e-mail, internet through mobile devices. The packet technology or IT protocol were used for the first time in mobile phones. This was the beginning of MMM or Multi Media Messaging. User experience in access to internet through mobile improved but there were some issues still. Data speed was one problem and it was around 115 kbps.

User experience was not perfect. The 3G technology provided a solution to these issues.