Let´s 3G: ZTE´s Future-Oriented 3G Philosophy

1 3G in China
Regarding the query about the issuing of third generation wireless telecommunications licenses in China, it’s still a very sensitive question to answer. Due to its own specific domestic situation, Chinese government needs to deal with concrete matters relating to its 3G work. This means that, at this moment, it hasn’t set a certain date to roll out 3G licenses. According to estimates, this date will depend on the market and the maturity of technologies, though all information suggests that it will be in the Year 2005. China has to learn from the experiences in European and Asian countries while releasing licenses and will choose a proper time to launch 3G services commercially.

  For Chinese operators, after the release of the 3G licenses, they can choose the 3G standards from among the three recognized ones in line with their development strategies. According to current market expectations, China Mobile, the world’s biggest carrier in terms of subscribers, will build a 3G system on the WCDMA standard, which is based on the GSM technology popular in Europe. China Unicom will apparently build a system based on the CDMA 2000 standard. China Telecom and China Netcom will get licenses too. As for the domestically produced TD-SCDMA system, all domestic operators are doing network trial tests based on this system.

2 Let’s 3G Worldwide
Being a famous Chinese industry-leading 3G system manufacturer, ZTE has its own development strategy not only in China but also in the overseas market.
In China, ZTE follows the trend of 3G developments in the country. Step by step, according to plan, ZTE made a great contribution to WCDMA, CDMA 2000 and TD-SCDMA. Until now, for WCDMA, a series of commercial and mature system equipment based on R99/R4 has been manufactured. This equipment is now being launched and tested in China’s large and influential cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen. Altogether there are over 8 sets of pilot systems being implemented in China. At the same time, a series of trials are proceeding smoothly. The result of the trial shall provide a point of reference for China’s 3G industry policies and strategies. During these tests, ZTE came out top in function, performance, and interconnection tests. For issues such as
inter-operability between terminals, between terminal and system and between systems, ZTE has carried out a series of IOT
(Inter-Operability Tests), and results show ZTE system has good compatibility in actual commercial applications.
Let’s 3G is a slogan from ZTE. It aims at ZTE’s determination to cooperate with every 3G attendee in the value chain to boost future 3G market. In 2004, an influential itinerant exhibition for WCDMA was being carried out all over China. A well-decorated exhibition vehicle had passed across all Chinese major cities. In every place, the exhibition of 3G services including video call, VoD, portable TV/DVD, MMS, java downloading, streaming media borne by ZTE’s WCDMA system attracted the attention of a lot of Chinese operators. They showed great interests in future 3G and expressed their wishes to launch 3G network eagerly. This itinerant exhibition of ZTE’s WCDMA has received high public praise from not only Chinese
top-level government officials but also provincial operators and consumers. Through this promotion, we are overwhelmed by 3G imminence in China and more and more confident in supplying WCDMA system in time to come to meet Chinese
market’s demand. Customers are surprised by our multi-facet solutions such as advanced coverage solution, capacity solution, and enhanced techniques to ensure coverage and capacity.
As for globalization strategy, it has been our persistent goal. Starting from GSM system and CDMA system, we have successively laid foundations for our future expansion. As we all know that ZTE GSM R&D was started later than some European vendors, but through its continuous endeavor, more and more overseas operators have recognized ZTE and its corresponding services. They believe in its strengths in supplying customized products and services. And now the ZTE mobile system has gained more and more market share, reaching a number of countries all over the world. We’d like to set a mark for all the global operators that as a technology corporation. ZTE thinks more for customers. It can not only supply newly developed technology to customers but our judicious and timely services which have been well known among our customers.
On June 22, 2004, ZTE signed its first deal with Tunisia’s Telecommunications Study and Research Center (CERT) to provide a pilot network in the capital, Tunis, and in Sousse. The trial provided an opportunity for ZTE to showcase its WCDMA technology outside China for the first time and is expected to lead to the launch of commercial 3G services in 2005 in time for the World Summit on the Information Society being held in Tunis in November 2005. In this period, ZTE will not only provide the WCDMA network based on 3GPP R4 version, but also provide perfect products integrated by two advanced wireless technology: WCDMA and Wi-Fi.
The WCDMA 2G/3G NGN solution that embodies ZTE’s characteristic and advanced Softswitch ideas has been spread and applied globally. In Dec. 2004, we signed the largest WCDMA overseas contract for a Chinese vendor, ZTE’s WCDMA system on R4 with over 1.2 million lines will be launched for the largest mobile operator in Libya soon. In other countries and regions, ZTE also achieved great breakthrough in 3G markets and built a series of pilot networks and left many marks around the world.
3 ZTE’s Diversified 3G
   Solution
In fact, GSM and CDMA are the two kinds of 2G mobile technologies that have contributed a lot to our 3G system. Especially CDMA 2000 had a lot of large-scale commercial applications and advanced network planning experiences. Plenty of human expertise has been shared by WCDMA, which introduces the same hardware platform and has been testified as a mature and commercially available system. At the same time, this WCDMA system embodies ZTE’s advanced Softswitch ideas which are its main features.
We are engaged in providing diversified 3G networks and services solutions for different communications carriers and service providers. In consideration of current core networks of different carriers at different evolutionary stages, we customize diversified solutions for them from R99 to R4 to R5.
For traditional operators, ZTE can provide integrated evolution solutions based on GSM/GPRS/WCDMA. WCDMA base stations will be introduced into traditional GSM/GPRS networks to construct the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) voice-data integrated platform, which will support the access of UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) voice services and packet data services. Featuring gigabit interfaces, UMTS core networks are backward compatible with GSM base stations, which is not only competent for traditional services development, but also convenient for evolution to 3G networks. Furthermore, the coverage and capacity of WCDMA wireless networks will be enlarged, and UMTS will finally transit to the all-IP mode.
For those new carriers without available mobile networks but itching for participation in 3G competition, ZTE’s 3G solutions are their ideal choices for direct construction of UMTS networks and UMSC (Universal Mobile Switching Center) voice-data integrated Softswitch platforms, which will provide 3G services quickly, and progress step by step to full-IP core networks ultimately.
Future 3G networks and services will take on a new operating mode, as more and more 3G service and content providers will emerge, who will provide their customers with new 3G services. For 3G service and content providers, therefore, ZTE Corporation has proposed 3G ISP Solutions for 3G network services, ISPs and ICPs.
As an international corporation, ZTE aims not only China but also a whole global world. Just like our slogan: let’s 3G, we’d like to be an initiator to promote development of 3G. We are also confident that one day we have strength to welcome and embrace 3G prosperity.

Manuscript received: 2004-11-25