wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Will Martin) (06/13/89)
Here's a mail exchange on the subject which I thought should be in the Digest since there is good info about the Scandinavian implementation therein: Date: Mon, 12 Jun 89 17:13:02 +0200 From: Torsten Dahlkvist <euatdt@euas11g.ericsson.se> To: wmartin@ST-LOUIS-EMH2.ARMY.MIL Subject: Re: Cellular phones in Beijing? Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden >Just how worldwide IS cellular telephone service implemented? I didn't >think it even was available all over Europe yet. Just for your info, and trying not to sound too vitriolic, I'd like to point out that the cellular phone system you use is largely based upon the Scaninavian one. The Scandinavian NMT-450 (Nordic Mobile Telephony) network covers all of Scandinavia and Swedish telecom-manufacturer Ericsson is in fact world-leading in sales of exchanges for cellular systems. Ericsson actually had something like 50% of the American market when I last heard any sales figures (a couple of years ago so this may have changed) and this should be weighted against the fact that so far, North America has been one of the SMALLER markets as cellular goes. A couple of years ago, there were more cellular phones in Sweden alone than in all of North America! This may seem amazing, but for once we've been favoured by our state-monopoly telecom administrations. The cellular networks have been integrated with the national radio networks so that the transmitters didn't need their own housing etc. This meant a quick build-up phase. Also, the build-up wasn't dependant on sales. A decision was made to cover all the area, and then they simply did it. What surprised everybody was the very rapid success of the system. Up until this time, mobile telephony was considered a luxury commodity. Suddenly every plumber and workman with a small enterprise of his own moved his office to his car with no need even for a receptionist. Swedish tax-laws make such expenses tax-deductible which meant that the cost for the phone, while high compared to a regular land-line subscription, was negligible in running a business. As a matter of fact, traffic outgrew the NMT-450 system years ago and the second generation, NMT-900 was introduced. This runs on 900 MHz as opposed to 450 and thus covers less area per transmitter. The smaller cell size effectively yields higher capacity but at the cost of more transmitters. Thus, the NMT-900 system only covers the major urban regions and main national roads. However, the phones need less power and shorter antennas, so they have become very popular where they can be used. Customers have a choice of 450 or 900 MHz when opening a subscription, with a warning that 450-traffic may be congested in urban areas and 900 may be unavailable in the country. Other countries have followed, but so far Scandinavia has been the only major multi-national cellular system. Different European countries have jumped on the bandwagon at different times and thus have opted for either the 450 or the 900 systems. Most of them, though, buying the stations from Ericsson. Motorola tried to move in on this huge market and have in fact managed to grab a small slice (20%, I think) here in Sweden, but NMT dominates completely. Of course, what the user sees is only the phone, not the exchange, and Ericsson have never been able to compete with cheap Far-East mass-produced subscriber equipment. Nor has this ever been their intent. They specialize in switching equipment (quite successfully so). At the present, work is going on throughout Europe to standardize a third generation system with digital transmission and a true pan-european standard. This means that a subscriber will be able to travel anywhere from Lisboa to Ankara to North Cape and still use his own car phone with the same number. All routing and charging will be fully automated. As far as I can see, the split of Ma Bell in the U.S. messed up the situation for you. IF Bell had been able to keep their hold on the market, and IF they had branched out into cellular early enough, they MIGHT have been able to offer you a continent-wide system without the routing hassles you seem to be suffering now. I'm not generally a big fan of state monopolies, but it's strange that Sweden should be among the cheapest countries for phone users consistently year after year with the high costs of net maintenance we have (sparse population/large area) for both cellular and regular phones. They must be doing something fairly well. BTW: As you can see from my return-path, I work at a subsidiary of Ericsson. I am not, however, in any way involved in their marketing nor do I have anything to do with the NMT-systems professionally. What I've said here is just my own personal compilation of general knowledge about this market. Torsten Dahlkvist ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories Stockholm, Sweden ========================= Date: Mon, 12 Jun 89 12:45:12 CDT From: Will Martin <wmartin@st-louis-emh2> To: euatdt%euas11g.ericsson.se@sunic.sunet.se Subject: Re: Cellular phones in Beijing? Thanks for the info. I was NOT trying to imply that the American cellular situation was superior to everywhere else (after all, what I mostly read about it are complaints! :-); what I was getting at when I used the "all over Europe" phrase was that I was surprised that this technology was available in China when I was under the impression that it had not been implemented in *every* European country yet. I've seen several responses citing Scandinavia as a place where it is completely (or nearly so) installed. But what about places like Portugal, Yugoslavia, etc.? That's what I meant -- I thought that cellular did not yet completely cover Europe, and it appears from the chart Mr. Covert posted that this is true. I realize cellular is not available "all over" the US yet, and I suppose never will be, given the presence of large areas of sparsely-populated countryside, like in Nevada and similar places. I suppose I should not have thought it at all remarkable that a major city like Beijing would have installed cellular in that metropolitan area, but it came as a bit of a surprise, since I was not aware of the international extent of cellular, to hear that it was available in a Communist country usually classified as "third world". Regards, Will Martin
johnw@gatech.edu (John Wheeler) (06/18/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0196m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> wmartin@st-louis-emh2. army.mil (Will Martin) writes: >From: Torsten Dahlkvist <euatdt@euas11g.ericsson.se> >Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden >As a matter of fact, traffic outgrew the NMT-450 system years ago and the >second generation, NMT-900 was introduced. This runs on 900 MHz as opposed to >450 and thus covers less area per transmitter. Curious as to how "cellular" can be operated at 450 MHz. At frequencies that "low" the cells would spill all over the place. 400-500 MHz is in fact "famous" for its abilities to get into nooks and crannies everywhere, bouncing off every building and hill within sight. -- Turner John Wheeler E N T E R T A I N M E N T ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw Networks Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports
lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) (06/22/89)
The first generation of Nordic Mobile Telephones (Scandinavia's Cellular system) NMT-450 operated at 450 MHz; the new system runs at 900 Mhz. In article <telecom-v09i0205m03@vector.dallas.tx.us> John Wheeler <techwood!johnw@gatech.edu> writes: >Curious as to how "cellular" can be operated at 450 MHz. At frequencies that >"low" the cells would spill all over the place. 400-500 MHz is in fact >"famous" for its abilities to get into nooks and crannies everywhere, >bouncing off every building and hill within sight. That was the idea; the cells are about 75 to 150 miles across; base stations are co-located with television transmitters (both operated by the national Post and Telegraph service). How many cells are in Dallas under the current system ? Lars Poulsen <lars@salt.acc.com> (800) 222-7308 or (805) 963-9431 ext 358 ACC Customer Service Affiliation stated for identification only My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !!
euatdt@euas11g.ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist) (06/26/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0205m03@vector.dallas.tx.us> John Wheeler <techwood! johnw@gatech.edu> writes: >Curious as to how "cellular" can be operated at 450 MHz. At frequencies that >"low" the cells would spill all over the place. 400-500 MHz is in fact >"famous" for its abilities to get into nooks and crannies everywhere, >bouncing off every building and hill within sight. That's largely the idea. The tranceivers are built into the (nation-wide) net of FM-repeaters covering the country. Because of the size of the cells, the NMT-450 rapidly out-grew its' capacity (nobody had even dreamed it would get that popular) and nowadays NMT-900 is recommended unless you absolutely MUST have nation-wide access. A friend just bought a cellular phone and he said if you wanted a 450 subscription there was a waiting-line of several months while a 900 one you can get overnight. Apparently the Telco is restricting the numbers of 450 users and diverting as much of the traffic as possible to 900. Even in a 900 MHz-system, there's always some overlap between two adjoining cells and a certain "spill" is bound to occur. Due to this, adjoining cells never share the same channels and the net-phone protocol handles the supervision necessary to detect when a phone has moved into a new cell and a switch is indicated. Since 900-cells are smaller, there are never as many phones in any one cell at the same time as there can be in the 450-system, so even with the same number of channels, 900 would have higher throughput. As it is, I believe 900 also has more channels than 450, so capacity is MUCH higher. However, 900 does not work if you get too far away from the urban areas and/or high up into the mountains. I have for a fact used a NMT-450 in the border mountains between Sweden and Norway. The Swedish carrier reached well into Norwegian territory and vice-versa. A rough estimate is that the overlap was at least 6 miles (10 km). NMT phones have a "Nation Select" key where you can switch between the different carriers. This is to prevent the phone from suddenly locking onto the "wrong" cell and causing your calls to be charged extra for "international". This also makes it possible to see how far into Norwegian territory the Swedish carrier reaches. /Torsten Torsten Dahlkvist ! "I am not now, nor have I ever ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories ! been, intimately related to P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN ! Dweezil Zappa!" Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ! - "Wierd" Al Yankowitz