Future Prospects of 3G in Bangladesh free essay sample

Though first mobile communication was launched in 1946 in USA, the development of mobile technology was stagnant till late 70’s due to technological constraint. The tremendous development of semi-conductor technology during this period and subsequent innovation of microprocessors in 1975 helped mobile to breakthrough commercially. Till further development of cellular technology, capacity problem was the key constraint of commercial mobile. In 1978total number of mobile (only in USA) was no above 10,000. Mobile technology up to this is termed as 0 Generation Mobile. World Mobile market even after full maturity of 2. 0G/2. 5G technology is still striving to migrate to Third Generation. Second Generation which was supposed to be obsolete by this time, today still acquires 85% of the market share. 3G after 8 years (since 2001) of start acquires only 15%market share. 3GPP before significant deployment of WCDMA based 3G declares the OFDMA based new standard LTE. 3GPP in line technologies UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA, HSPA+ has not bothered for logical gap to offer for deployment. When critics are still asking about the success of 3G, declaration of LTE puts the situation yet complex. This is off course the investment challenge for the mobile operators. Though vendors are very much optimistic about benefit of entering earlier in 3G chains and promising about smooth migration to upward technology by software up gradation only, countries like Bangladesh are to think twice to enter in such no returning vessel. Every vendor has astringent experience about software up gradation of the proprietary system. It is Mobile WiMAX that compels 3GPP to develop LTE. Vendors deliberately declare LTE roadmap ahead of time to defend against Mobile WiMAX. At this instant LTE is the choice more to the leading CDMA operators in USA to deploy quickly because of the bottleneck of CDMA to higher data rate. WCDMA operators are little pessimistic about quick LTE. Despite my own attachment with a mobile operator, the insight in the article is from my personal viewpoint. 2. What is 3G? 3G, or Third Generation, is a somewhat generic term for network technologies that the ITU classifies as part of their IMT-2000 specification. Generally, wireless network technologies must be able to provide a mobile device with a downlink connection speed of 384kbps in order to be considered a 3G technology. The most used 3G technologies are WCDMA, CDMA 1xEV-DO, and, technically, EDGE and CDMA 1xRTT. 3. 2G-3G-4G: 2G, first introduced in 1992, is the second-generation of cellular telephone technology and the first to use digital encryption of conversations. 2G networks were the first to offer data services and SMS text messaging, but their data transfer rates are lower than those of their successors. 3G networks succeed 2G ones, offering faster data transfer rates and are the first to enable video calls. This makes them especially suitable for use in modern smartphones, which require constant high-speed internet connection for many of their applications. 4G is the fourth generation of mobile phone communications standards. It is a successor of the 3G and provides ultra-broadband internet access for mobile devices. The high data transfer rates make 4G networks suitable for use in USB wireless modems for laptops and even home internet access. 4. Features of 3G: The customers will get a high speed network for their communication which is far better than the 2G technology, particularly in data communication. The customer will get wireless broadband. Customer can see video or satellite based programs like TV programs using this technology. Customers can use all the facilities at same time. It may also be cheap than the other traditional media we are using, as a result of price war. The many in one service will be available at the same network. Due to use of the DTH the 3G technology, everyone will use these multi-purpose services to avoid time loss and keeping records for different service providers. All 3G service provides high speed internet service including: Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, known as EDGE, Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA 2000, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System or UMTS, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, or WiMax. UMTS HSDPA (High speed Downlink packet access) 5. Global Perspective: The world of telecommunications has changed rapidly over the last decade as we have entered the era of convergence between mobile networks, broadband communication, and the content sector. Consumers are demanding for advanced services such as mobile TV, mobile broadband Internet and other value added applications; the demand has increased tremendously in recent years and is considered as a key driver for further growth of ICT industry. Speed and bandwidth are two main support factors to supply the required wish list of mobile subscriber’s for attaining maximum value from mobile handset way beyond a simple voice call. In the growing scenario, where mobile voice services become uniform with increasing price competition, innovative data services made possible by the 3rd Generation (3G) networks are important for generating profit and growth. According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) mobile network or service based on the International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) family of global standards is commonly referred to as â€Å"3G mobile†. These mobile systems provide higher transmission rates than possible in second generation (2G) wireless technologies, enabling many advanced applications such as mobile videoconferencing, video phone/mail, mobile TV/Video player, and digital audio/video delivery. Thus, the true provision of communication, information, and entertainment via the mobile platform will be impossible without the successful dissemination of 3G services. The unprecedented necessity of deploying 3G mobile services has escorted operators globally; today there are approximately 1 billion 3G subscribers in over 150 economies. The following graph shows the growth of mobile subscribers over last three years and future growth trends by 2015. We can clearly observe that the present global market share of 3G subscribers is 18. 4 % which is predicted to reach 42. 7% by 2015, whereas the 2G mobile subscribers show no further growth trends. 3G mobile services are bringing a swift change in mobile broadband adoption, increase in data revenues for mobile operators with steady ARPUs. The following graph underlines how 3G will drive mobile broadband connections into the next decade, enabling 85% of mobile broadband subscriptions in 2013 via HSPA platform. 6. Asian Perspective: 7. Introduction of 3G In Bangladesh: The telecoms sector in Bangladesh has seen growth in mobile penetration that has exceeded all expectations with over 65. 1 million subscriber as of September 2010 versus only 4 million in2004. we believe with a supportive regulatory environment, crossing 100 million subscribers by2013 is achievable. The rapid growth in mobile telephony has undoubtedly had a transformative impact on the economy in terms of aggregated investment, FDI and productivity levels. There have also been substantial benefits from greater connectivity in terms of social cohesion and poverty alleviation . However the industry also faces a number of uncertainties, including upcoming telecom license renewals which expire in 2011 and prospective auction/issuance of 3G license where the cost of the licenses and cap ex requirement are still unclear. With India’s auctions having been completed on 19 May 2010 and service delivery under roll out process, it is believable there are number of valuable lessons for the prospective evolution of 3G and beyond 3G markets in Bangladesh. 3Gnetworks are expected to significantly enhance user experience of existing data service, with the introduction of video and other high bandwidth services by carriers; to help 3G really gain adoption among consumers, development of a mobile VAS ecosystem is critical. Mobile data surpassed voice on a global basis in December 2009. it is forecast that mobile broadband users are expected to more than 3. 4bn by 2015(from 360M in 2009). 80% of all people accessing the internet will do so using their mobile device. The main divers for increased activity on the mobile devices are three-fold network in the form of 3G(and future upgrades of 4G+), higher processing power device being available for mass-market price, and the fact that consumers are not only consuming but also producing content at an exponential pace. According to analyst firm ABI research, global mobile voice revenue will peak in 2010, at USD 580 billion, before starting to contract from 2011 onwards. By leveraging the enormous demand for data, service providers can at least partially make up for declining voice revenues. In developing market, voice revenues are likely to continue to expand but data will also become more important. Finally Bangladesh was able to give license for 3G cellular mobile communications. Which are provided high data rate service and 3G video call this service is only available in TELETALK mobile service Provider Company. Recently BTCL will call auction for Gramenphone Company to provide 3G license. Other company is also technically preparing for future 3G service. It is predicting that Bangladesh may under completely 3G services within 2016. Whereas other like Teletalk, GP may prepare for 4G+ cellular mobile communication service within this time. 8. Bangladesh Current Scenario: Since January 2010, the head of BTRC started planning for 3G licensing and stated the operating licenses would be issued in August 2010, which attracted a number of international telecommunication companies’ interests at that time. However, August 2010 came without the regulator committing to an auction. Despite this, the state-run Teletalk proposed launching 3G services ahead of other private mobile operators. In April 2011, both government and mobile operators started to negotiate the 2G licensing renewal, with the 3G spectrum auction having been held up for a long time. After the 2G license renewal, the regulator came to consider 3G licensing again and decided to hold the auction in September 2012. The initial intent was to allocate one concession to state-run operators, three to private operators, and one to a new foreign entrant. But the scheduled September 2012 auction was put off again until 2013 due to the belated settlement of 2G license renewal. The 3G licensing delay, along with 4G licensing, might deter the potential of introducing new technology and foreign investment. Things did not go as smoothly as expected. Since the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in Bangladesh planned to charge a 15% tax over the radio spectrum payments, the mobile operators refused to take part in the auction until the tax rate could be reduced to an acceptable level. After several rounds of postponements and arguments, the auction finally took place on September 8, 2013, based on the premise that the Value Added Tax (VAT) on 3G spectrum fees would be lowered to 5%. Both the high average corporate tax rate (52. 5%) and regulation uncertainties in Bangladesh could frighten foreign investors away, enticing no foreign entrants to the Bangladesh mobile markets. Since Bangladesh is in the critical moment of mobile technology development, the government should learn to efficiently allocate natural sources (like spectrum) and attract necessary investment, rather than take advantage of political power to seize more money from companies. On September 8, 2013, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) announced that its four local private mobile operators had been assigned 3G spectrum in the 2. 1 GHz band. The spectrum could also be applied for 4G services. The regulator has collected BDT40. 8 billion (US$525 million) from the auction, while the spectrum fee per (paired) MHz is US$21 million. However, 2 x 15 MHz spectrum was left unsold, worth the price of US$315 million. 9. Acceptance of 3G: In recent years, the demand for mobile internet access has grown significantly. The number of pages viewed on the mobile Web browser Opera grew from 1. 8 billion pages in January 2008 to51. 5 billion pages in February 2011 where 7. 3 petabytes of operator data were compressed for 89. 8 million Opera Mini users [1]. Nevertheless, the current technology is not widely. Successful to serve and to satisfy the users because of its low transmission rate and high service costs. Consequently, research is going and new concepts toward evolution are subjected to verify for implementation throughout the world. Based on the requirements of high speed mobile wireless access services, wireless systems can be broadly classified as into two groups; Cellular system based on IMT 2000 (WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE/LTE-Advanced by 3GPP,CDMA2000 1X) and Extension of fixed wireless systems incorporate mobile functions i. e. WiMAX (IEEE 802. 16e) IEEE 802. 16m. The overall evolution of cellular technology is diagrammatically shown in Figure-1[2]. LTE Advanced is a broadband mobile communication standard. It is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as a major enhancement of the pre-4G 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, which verified to be insufficient to satisfy market’s demand [3]. The 3G PP group has been working on different aspects to improve LTE performance, using for this purpose the framework provided by LTE Advanced, which includes some advanced features. Figure 2 shows a typical migration scenario toward LTE-Advanced. The horizontal axis explains the performance which includes capacity, through put, latency and cost, etc. LTE (Release-8) area will be overlaid firstly with 3G area and expanded gradually according to the customer’s demand. Since LTE-Advanced is based on the LTE Rel. 8 and supported with full backward compatibility with LTE Rel. 8, LTE-Advanced UE can be shared with LTE of previous release in the same frequency and area Thus, the migration from LTE toward LTE-Advanced is very smooth, e. g. support of CA with new frequency to improve the capacity and throughput. In In this research work, it has been presented a detail review on the LTE-Advanced mobile broad band communication systems and outlines some features that are still in progress. Other words, LTE operators can easily upgrade to the LTE-Advanced according to the market demands and new frequency allocation. 10. Current Statistics: â€Å"†The number of Internet users in the country touched the 33. 43 million mark at the end of April this year, according to a senior official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). About 95 per cent of them use the Internet through mobile phones, while the rest use broadband Internet from Internet Service Providers (ISP), he said. Suman Ahmed Sabir, former vice-president of the Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB), described the spurt in the number of Internet users as a positive one. He said dependence on mobile phones for surfing the Internet has increased sharply, as ISPs carry out their operations only in major cities, including the capital. He also said lack of infrastructure has forced many ISPs to stop their operations outside Dhaka. He further said the growth of broadband Internet has been slow in the country, even though there is an urgent need for proper development of the information and communication sector. He said the government should take steps to reach the Internet to persons in charge of responsible government offices. Mobile phone operators submit the number of their customers who apply for the minimum Internet connectivity of 90 days, according to an official of a mobile phone operator. According to him, the number of Internet users has been increasing rapidly since six mobile phone companies and two Wimax operators across the country have started offering different Internet packages. He expressed the hope that introduction of the new 3G technology would push up even more the number of Internet users. Now, the government-run Teletalk offers a limited 3G technology to its customers, he added. Of the telecom operators, Grameenphone is leading the sector with 10 million Internet subscribers, followed by Banglalinks 9. 7 million, Robis 4. 4 million, Airtels 2. 8 million, Citycells 0. 3 million and Teletalks 0. 255 million. Internet service providers (ISPs) and PSTN (public switched telephone network) operators have around 1. 22 million users, while two Wimax operators Banglalion and Qubee have 0. 49 million customers with Internet connectivity. TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB), said surfing has become important for mobile phone users. â€Å"Mobile phones have become a service tool. It is providing multiple services to the people. In addition to voice call, mobile phones provide different data and multimedia services. Thats why people are using such phones to conduct their everyday business,† he added. †Ã¢â‚¬  –Collected from http://www. theindependentbd. com 11. Network coverage of 3G in Bangladesh: When the first time 3G was launched in Bangladesh Teletalk covered all the areas that were covered before with 2G. But later when other network companies get the license for launching 3G the only covered the major areas of Dhaka and then on Chittagong. But now as the time new technology has grabbed everyone’s attention and everyone is interested to get the service they are spreading their network. But Still they are only covering the major cities of the countries districts. But the state owned Teletalk is covering almost all over Bangladesh. 12. Pricing of 3G: When Teletalk started their journey with the 3G technology they set their price for the service a bit higher. But after the permission of the other companies using 3G technology the price is falling. Even though the price is not affordable by all but we can hope that the price will fall and every mobile phone user will be able to effort the service. But as Teletalk is a state owned company they were able to maintain the price leadership of the market, whereas the companies are still working on their marketing strategies and priceings and offers.