Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution


Mobile communication standards
GSM / UMTS (3GPP) Family
GSM (2G)
UMTS (3G)
UMTS Rev. 8 (Pre-4G)
CDMA (3GPP2) Family
cdmaOne (2G)
CDMA2000 (3G)
UMB (Pre-4G)
AMPS Family
AMPS (1G)
D-AMPS (2G)
Other Technologies
Pre Cellular
1G
2G
Pre-4G
Channel Access Methods
Frequency bands

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC) is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability. EDGE is generally classified as 2.75G, although it is part of ITU's 3G definition[1]. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially by Cingular (now AT&T) in the United States.[2]

EDGE can be used for any packet switched application, such as an Internet connection. High-speed data applications such as video services and other multimedia benefit from EGPRS' increased data capacity. EDGE Circuit Switched is a possible future development.

EDGE Evolution continues in Release 7 of the 3GPP standard providing doubled performance e.g. to complement High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA).

Contents

Technology

EDGE/EGPRS is implemented as a bolt-on enhancement for 2G and 2.5G GSM and GPRS networks, making it easier for existing GSM carriers to upgrade to it. EDGE/EGPRS is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrade.

Although EDGE requires no hardware or software changes to be made in GSM core networks, base stations must be modified. EDGE compatible transceiver units must be installed and the base station subsystem needs to be upgraded to support EDGE. New mobile terminal hardware and software is also required to decode/encode the new modulation and coding schemes and carry the higher user data rates to implement new services.

Transmission techniques

In addition to Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses higher-order PSK/8 phase shift keying (8PSK) for the upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE, like GPRS, uses a rate adaptation algorithm that adapts the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the quality of the radio channel, and thus the bit rate and robustness of data transmission. It introduces a new technology not found in GPRS, Incremental Redundancy, which, instead of retransmitting disturbed packets, sends more redundancy information to be combined in the receiver. This increases the probability of correct decoding.

EDGE can carry data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s for 4 timeslots (theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots) in packet mode and will therefore meet the International Telecommunications Union's requirement for a 3G network, and has been accepted by the ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. It also enhances the circuit data mode called HSCSD, increasing the data rate of this service.

EGPRS modulation and coding scheme (MCS)

 Coding and modulation 
scheme (MCS)		  Speed 
(kbit/s/slot)		  Modulation 
MCS-1 8.80 GMSK
MCS-2 11.2 GMSK
MCS-3 14.8 GMSK
MCS-4 17.6 GMSK
MCS-5 22.4 8-PSK
MCS-6 29.6 8-PSK
MCS-7 44.8 8-PSK
MCS-8 54.4 8-PSK
MCS-9 59.2 8-PSK

Classification

Whether EDGE is 2G or 3G depends on implementation. While Class 3 and below EDGE devices are clearly not 3G, class 4 and above devices perform at a higher bandwidth than other technologies conventionally considered as 2G as 1xRTT). Because of the variability, EDGE is generally classified as 2.75G network technology.

EDGE Evolution

EDGE Evolution improves on EDGE in a number of ways. Latencies are reduced by lowering the Transmission Time Interval by half (from 20 ms to 10 ms). Bit rates are increased up to 1 MBit/s peak speed and latencies down to 100 ms using dual carriers, higher symbol rate and higher-order modulation (32QAM and 16QAM instead of 8-PSK), and turbo codes to improve error correction. And finally signal quality is improved using dual antennas. An EDGE Evolution terminal or network can support some of these improvements, or roll them out in stages.

Networks

EDGE is actively supported by GSM operators in North America. Some GSM operators elsewhere viewed UMTS as the ultimate upgrade path and either planned to skip EDGE altogether or use it outside the UMTS coverage area. However, the high cost and slow uptake of UMTS have resulted in fairly common support for EDGE in the global GSM/GPRS market.

The following companies have EDGE networks in operation:

Americas

Operator' Country
ancel Uruguay (nationwide) Uruguay
AT&T Mobility United States
BTC The Bahamas
Centennial Wireless United States
Cincinnati Bell United States
Claro Guatemala
Claro Brazil
Claro Honduras
Comcel Colombia
Corr Wireless United States
Claro (almost nationwide) Argentina
Digicel Jamaica Jamaica
Digitel Venezuela
Edge Wireless United States
EntelPCS Chile
Fido Canada
i wireless United States
Mid-Tex Cellular United States
movistar Guatemala
Movistar Uruguay (almost nationwide) Uruguay
movistar Mexico
movistar Venezuela
Oi Brazil
Orange Dominican Republic
Petrocom United States
Porta Ecuador
Plateau Wireless United States
PSC Wireless United States
Rogers Canada
Suncom United States
Tušmobil Slovenia
T-Mobile United States
Telcel Mexico
TIM Brazil
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago
Telemig Celular Brazil (the state of Minas Gerais)
Tigo Colombia
Tigo Guatemala
Tigo Honduras
Tigo Paraguay
Unicel United States
Viaero United States
VOX Paraguay
Westlink United States

Europe and CIS

Multi-country operators:

Single country operators:

Africa

 This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007)
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Middle East

Country Operator
Bahrain Zain
Kuwait Zain
Palestine Jawwal
Iran MTN Irancell
Saudi Arabia Mobily
Saudi Arabia Aljawal.STC
United Arab Emirates ETISALAT
Egypt Mobinil
Egypt Vodafone Egypt
Egypt Etisalat
Israel Cellcom

Asia

Operator Country
GrameenPhone Bangladesh (Covers all part of Bangladesh)
Warid Telecom Bangladesh (Covers all part of Bangladesh)
Aktel Bangladesh (In Major cities)
Banglalink Bangladesh (test transmission)
China Mobile China (In Major cities)
China Unicom China (In Shanghai)
Guamcell Guam (USA)
CSL Hong Kong
Peoples Hong Kong
Airtel India (In Major cities)
BSNL India (Covers all part of India)
MTNL India
!dea India
Vodafone India (In Major cities)
Telkomsel Indonesia
Excelcom Indonesia
Indosat Indonesia
DiGi Malaysia
Maxis Mobile Malaysia
Mero Mobile Nepal
Mobilink Pakistan
Telenor (Pakistan) Pakistan
Warid Telecom Pakistan
Ufone Pakistan
ZONG Pakistan
SMART Philippines
StarHub Singapore
Dialog GSM Sri Lanka
DTAC Thailand
True Move Thaiiland
Advanced Info Service Thailand
MobiFone Vietnam
Viettel Vietnam

Asia and Far East

  • Bangladesh: Grameenphone have launched EDGE services and covers all part of the country and the service is much better than any other broadband operators in Bangladesh.As its users mount to a great number,its speed is quite poor in recent times
  • Bangladesh: Warid Telecom have launched EDGE services recently.
  • China: China Mobile launched EDGE services in Guangdong province in 2005. Shanghai has good EDGE coverage through China Mobile (2007). China Unicom also launched EDGE service in Shanghai.
  • Hong Kong: Peoples; also CSL, under the brands 1O1O and One2Free
  • India: MTNL, Bharti Airtel, !dea and Vodafone have launched EDGE services. As of July 2007, BSNL's plans for introducing the service are pending since year 2003.district headquarters are currently under the reach of EDGE of BSNL[6][12] [13] [14]
  • Indonesia: Telkomsel, Excelcom, and Indosat provide EDGE network
  • Malaysia: DiGi has reasonable EDGE coverage, particularly in West Malaysia. Coverage in East Malaysia is currently limited to Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and several main town centres. DiGi streams its MobileTV service over its EDGE network; also Maxis Mobile provides an EDGE network
  • Nepal: Spice Nepal "Mero Mobile" has EDGE coverage in major cities
  • Pakistan: Mobilink and Warid Telecom are testing EDGE services in major cities. Telenor (Pakistan) provides EDGE coverage throughout Pakistan and is the only operator in Pakistan currently providing Mobile TV over its EDGE network.
  • Philippines: SMART has a wide EDGE coverage over the Philippine archipelago. PLDT, the parent company of SMART, also offers the PLDT WeRoam GPRS/EDGE wireless internet service
  • Sri Lanka: Dialog GSM offers EDGE Coverage in Major Cities.
  • Thailand: DTAC provides nationwide EDGE coverage[15]. Advanced Info Service (AIS) also has a nationwide EDGE coverage. The third largest mobile operator, True Move, has deployed EDGE in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area.
  • Vietnam: two GSM operators MobiFone and Viettel, who have nation-wide GPRS coverage, have both initiated EDGE field trials on their network since Q4 2007.

Australasia

  • Australia: Telstra has nationwide EDGE coverage (approximately 96% of population).
  • New Zealand: Nationwide EDGE coverage across main metropolitan areas on Vodafone NZ's mobilize network, for corporate and industrial use only. New Zealand's public use only available via Australia's Telstra network.
  • Samoa: Digicel Pacific (previously Telecom NZ) is still under initiation.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/BackgroundIMT2000/IMT-2000.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/MiscDocuments/IMT-Deployments-Rev3.pdf
  3. ^ O2 confesses to EDGE support - The Inquirer (Sept 18, 2007).
  4. ^ O2 wins iPhone contract in the UK - BBC News Online (Sept 18, 2007).
  5. ^ O2 takes it to the EDGE - The Register (Sept 14, 2007).
  6. ^ http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=128832 BSNL Expansion Delayed Yet Again] - Light Reading (July 11, 2007).

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