The beauty of unlicensed mobile access, or UMA, it seems, is in the eyes of the beholder.
The question of the technology’s appeal to network operators who might deploy it depends on the particular operator’s business plans and whether adopting UMA would help those plans.
UMA is a much-touted 3rd Generation Partnership Program, or 3GPP, protocol that would allow seamless roaming from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi hot spot, or WLAN, whether in a public environment such as an airport, or a private environment such as office or home. When an end user enters or leaves a hot spot, the technology will seamlessly switch between a cellular call and a VoIP call.
For operators, the technology offers the potential for a low-cost extension of their network into homes and offices in the battle over a market advantage in the convergence of fixed and mobile telephony and, UMA vendors say, lightening the load on the operator’s network. For consumers, the promise of better indoor coverage with faster data rates and potentially low- or no-cost coverage in home or office holds a significant attraction.
In the United States, T-Mobile USA Inc. appears to be the only network operator involved in UMA trials; the service would help extend its network at a time when the operator’s coverage areas require additional, expensive spectrum. T-Mobile USA also lacks a cellular-based third-generation network and has an extensive Wi-Fi hot spot footprint.
U.S. operators’ interest in UMA depends on where they see Wi-Fi as complementary to their networks, according to a recent Yankee Group report. Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C., for instance, today see Wi-Fi as a standalone service, not an extension of their networks, due to uncertainty over the hot-spot business model (typically free). Operators should re-evaluate Wi-Fi/cellular integration, according to the Yankee Group, focusing less on perceived threats to traditional business models and more on the potential of the technology to serve subscribers. Wi-Fi and VoIP are here to stay, according to the analyst firm, and consumers will accept Wi-Fi/cellular integration.
Otherwise, operators’ embrace of UMA is largely taking place in Europe.
Meanwhile, network, handset and component vendors are bringing products to market or trialing the technology to establish their place at the table, should network operators decide to implement UMA.
Observers point out that UMA is but one of several fixed/mobile convergence technologies, but it is the only one commercially available today, thus the spate of announcements by vendors anxious to have their products under consideration by operators.
Nokia Corp., for instance, is touting its UMA trial in Oulu, Finland-a city with a free Wi-Fi network covering the city’s downtown-where 50 families have been equipped with UMA-enabled Nokia 6136 handsets.
“We want to get first-hand knowledge of the behavior of this system on a live network, and how it feels to the end user,” said Ilpo Niva, a senior project manager in the mobile-phones division at Nokia. Niva said initial results were positive, but that Nokia sought several months of data from the trial.
The handoff from a cellular network to Wi-Fi coverage is invisible to the end user except for an on-screen icon that indicates that the user is on Wi-Fi, according to Niva. He did not elaborate on what aspects of end-users’ behavior or usage of UMA was most interesting to the Finnish vendor.
Nokia is using Kineto Wireless’ UMA network controller in its network solution.
Nokia rival Motorola Inc. has landed a contract with Danish operator TeliaSonera to provide UMA in the home for TeliaSonera subscribers, reportedly launching in the second half of this year. Motorola has a contract to provide network infrastructure and integration and deployment services from its “connected home” business unit. The technology was trialed in Denmark over the past two years, and includes Motorola’s A910 handset. Motorola also uses Kineto’s UNC and handset software.
On the handset side, Motorola’s A910 handset will encounter competition from Nokia’s 6136 phone, set to ship globally in the third quarter and, though no operator relationships have yet been announced, its seems likely that European operators that have embraced UMA would be among Nokia’s possible customers.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s SGH-P200, recently announced as the first commercially available UMA-equipped phone on the market, is slated to soon be available on Telecom Italia’s network.
