Phs Entry To Pose A Challenge For Cellular Operators
PHS (Personal Handyphone System), the Japanese mobile communications standard, is set to make an entry into India after the department of telecommunications (DoT) indicated that applications for deployment of such systems will be cleared on a case-by-case basis.
Already under threat from CDMA (code division multiple access)-based wireless in local loop (WiLL) systems, the imminent entry of the PHS standard has set alarm bells ringing among cellular operators who handle GSM (global system for mobile communications)-based cellular systems in India. They admit that the PHS system among the cheapest mobile wireless systems in the world offers limited mobility and may turn out to be a cheap alternative to GSM cellular and CDMA-based WiLL systems. Priced competitively, CDMA-based systems, which have been inducted into DoT networks and are being deployed in basic telecom networks, threaten to wean subscribers from GDM-based cellular networks.
Both CDMA(-based) and PHS technologies offer limited mobility. CDMA has already found takers in Delhi (where a Qualcomm experimental system has been installed) who would have otherwise opted for GSM cellular service. This trend is likely to get accentuated once PHS comes in, the top executive of a celluar operator said.
PHS started as a WiLL solution in Japan, but technology advancements have enabled it to be deployed in cellular networks. Although the standard does not allow fast-mobility as in GSM networks, PHS systems has found many takers in Japan with as many as 20 million subscribers. The standard offers better data capabilities when compared with GSM systems.
According to telecom sources, DoT has clarified that all digital WiLL systems operating in the frequency band 1880-1900 mhz can be inducted into the domestic telecom network after the ministry of defence cleared the use of the spectrum for commercial purposes.
PHS systems operate in the 1880-1900 mhz band and, like other similar systems based on time division multiple access (TDMA), have a micro-cellular architecture. This means that the operating radius of such systems is 2-3 km. DoT is likely to allow PHS systems to be included in its forthcoming tender for rural telephones, sources added.
Earlier, the department refused the to allow the entry of PHS systems in the country because the frequency in which it operates clashed with use of the same spectrum by defence agencies. Japanese electronics-to-telecom majors NEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu and Korean companies like Samsung and LGIC are among the manufacturers of PHS systems and stand to benefit by the DoT move.
The department is likely to allow the setting up of an experimental PHS system in the country next. According to existing norms, a new system has to be validated by the telecom engineering centre of DoT, before granting it type-approval. A type-approval enables manufacturers to participate in DoT tenders.
The clearance given to PHS systems will mean that four technologies will be eligible to participate in forthcoming rural WiLL tenders of DoT.
Already technologies like Qualcomms CDMA standard, the European DECT (digitally enhanced cordless telephony) and the indigenous corDECT (developed by IIT, Chennai) have been given the green signal by the department.
Besides digital WiLL systems, DoT also intends to depend on analog technologies like MARR (multiple access rural radio) to provide rural connectivity. MARR systems, which has been inducted heavily in DoT rural networks in the last five years, have not been working satisfactorily. So, the department has decided to induct digital WiLL systems.