Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
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Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. It is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America.
It can be used for any packet switched applications 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.
On March 14 2007, Ericsson announced plans[1] for EDGE Evolution, an upgrade to EDGE that permits 1 MBit/s peak speeds and latencies down to 100 ms, using the existing network infrastructure. EDGE Evolution is included in Release 7 of the 3GPP standard, and products are expected to arrive in 2008.[2]
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[edit] Technology
EDGE/EGPRS is implemented as a bolt-on enhancement to 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 upgrades.
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 (BSS) 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.
[edit] Transmission techniques
In addition to Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses 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.
[edit] EGPRS modulation and coding scheme (MCS)
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Coding and modulation
scheme (MCS)Speed
(kbit/s)Modulation MCS-1 8.8 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
[edit] Classification
Whether EDGE is 2G or 3G depends on implementation. While Class 3 and below EDGE devices clearly are not 3G, class 4 and above devices perform at a higher bandwidth than other technologies conventionally considered as 3G (such as 1xRTT). Because of the variability, EDGE is generally classified as 2.75G network technology.
[edit] 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 using dual carriers 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 only some of these improvements, or roll them out in stages.
[edit] Networks
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EDGE is actively supported by GSM operators in North America. Some GSM operators elsewhere view UMTS as the ultimate upgrade path and either plan 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 full list of EDGE Operators previously maintained by GSM World was discontinued in May 2005, but they say "virtually all new GSM infrastructure deployments are also EDGE capable".
The following companies have EDGE networks in production:
[edit] Americas
- Cingular and T-Mobile have EDGE networks in the United States
- Rogers (as well as subsidiary Fido) in Canada has EDGE technology
- Telcel and movistar both operate independent EDGE networks in Mexico. Telcel's covers Mexico City, Guadalajara, Hermosillo and Monterrey and has expansions scheduled
- TIM and Claro have EDGE coverage in most cities in Brazil
- Telemig Celular has EDGE coverage in its entire GSM region, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil
- TIGO has EDGE coverage in the most part of its GSM network, in Guatemala and Paraguay
- Digitel [3] has nationwide GPRS/EDGE coverage in Venezuela, and movistar is currently developing its own GSM/GPRS/EDGE network in that country
- CTI Argentinal [4] has nearly nationwide GPRS/EDGE coverage in Argentina.
- UNICEL'
[edit] Europe
- Mobilkom Austria provides an EDGE network in Austria [5]
- Azercell has EDGE network in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan
- Velcom is constructing EDGE network and has partly opened it in Belarus [6]
- Orange has EDGE networks in Belgium, France, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, UK and has recently launched EDGE in the Dominican Republic
- Mobiltel has EDGE coverage in the South part of Bulgaria and will gradually expand it in the North part of the country in 2007.
- T-Mobile has EDGE 50% coverage of Croatia
- VIPnet has full EDGE coverage in Croatia [7]
- T-Mobile Czech Republic as well as Vodafone has large EDGE coverage in Czech Republic including all the main cities, O2 Czech Republic uses EDGE at new cells
- Telia Denmark has EDGE coverage in 98.7% of the country
- TeliaSonera has large EDGE coverage in Finland including all the main cities
- Elisa Oyj has large EDGE coverage in Finland including all the main cities
- Dna Finland is constructing lare EDGE/UMTS network and has partly opened it in Finland
- Bouygues Télécom has now an EDGE Network in France that covers 95% of the population; it is the largest EDGE implementation in France [8]
- Geocell has EDGE networks in Georgia [9]
- T-Mobile and Pannon GSM have a wide coverage of EDGE in Hungary, even in some rural areas in addition to major cities and motorways
- Meteor Mobile Communications, is upgrading its existing 2.5G Network to EDGE throughout Ireland in 2006/07
- Vodafone Ireland, has an EDGE network where GPRS is supported
- TIM in Italy supports EDGE wherever GPRS is already supported
- Wind in Italy is upgrading the existing network to EDGE, while it is already available in several cities
- Moldcell has EDGE networks in large cities of Moldova [10]
- Telfort has full EDGE coverage in The Netherlands
- Telenor and Netcom both operate separate, nation-wide networks in Norway. Both have complete EDGE coverage.
- Si.Mobil-Vodaphone has EDGE 70% coverage of Slovenia, all major settlements are covered [11]
- Telia/TeliaSonera has EDGE coverage in Sweden
- sunrise a subsidiary of TDC has EDGE that cover 99% of the population of Switzerland and was first with EDGE in Switzerland
- Swisscom thru Swisscom Mobile's EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) network has EDGE networks that cover 99% of the population of Switzerland
- Orange has a GSM / EDGE network in Romania and Switzerland (covering 99% of the population)
- Bitė Lietuva has a nationwide EDGE network in Lithuania and was one of the first to launch it in Europe (December 2003)
- LMT in Latvia has an EDGE network since 2005
- UMC was the first mobile operator in Ukraine and today provides for more than 16 millions of subscribers an opportunity to communicate using EDGE
- Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator with more than 20 million subscribers, offers EDGE in selected cities and plans to extend coverage nationwide in 2007
- T-Mobile announced to offer EDGE in all GPRS covered regions. At the moment only some regions in Germany are covered.
- Siminn has EDGE coverage in Iceland
- Jersey Telecom has EDGE coverage in Jersey, Channel Islands
[edit] Africa
- Mobinil in Egypt has EDGE technology, However, The Egyptian National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority is requesting Mobinil to stop EDGE deployment as NTRA considers this technology 3G, which Mobinil has not acquired yet, despite the fact that GSMA recognizes EDGE as 2G.
- Safaricom Kenya has introduced this service to enhance the Mobile Internet speeds that subscribers currently experience on their GPRS network
- Celtel Kenya has launched EDGE in Nairobi and GPRS countrywide
- Cell C has EDGE coverage in South Africa
- MTN has EDGE coverage for large areas of South Africa
- Vodacom has EDGE coverage for large areas of South Africa and Mozambique
- Celtel Zambia has launched EDGE in Lusaka and GPRS countrywide
[edit] Asia
- Cellcom has EDGE coverage in Israel
- Aljawal.STC in Saudi Arabia has EDGE technology
- ETISALAT in UAE has a wide EDGE coverage that covers most of the seven emirates.
- China Mobile in China launched EDGE services in Guangdong province in 2005
- Peoples in Hong Kong
- CSL, under the brands 1O1O and One2Free, in Hong Kong
- Vodafone under the brand Hutch in India.
- Mueller under the brand JMasta in Hong Kong.
MtnIrancell in Iran has EDGE technology
[edit] South Asia
- Grameen Phone has EDGE coverage in all parts of Bangladesh where Grameen network is available
- AirTel, !dea and Hutch provide EDGE coverage in large parts of India [12] [13] [14]
- Spice Nepal "Mero Mobile" has EDGE coverage in major cities of Nepal
- Telenor Pakistan has launched EDGE in Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan has the largest GPRS/EDGE coverage in Pakistan
- Mobilink has also started EDGE coverage in Pakistan, although only at one station in the whole country.
- Grameen Telecom is 38% shareholder of Grameen Phone.
[edit] Asia Pacific
- Telstra in Australia has begun offering EDGE starting in October 2006
- Telkomsel, Excelcom, and Indosat provide EDGE network in Indonesia
- DiGi has reasonable EDGE coverage in Malaysia, 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
- Maxis Mobile provides an EDGE network in Malaysia
- SMART in the Philippines 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
- DTAC is running an EDGE implementation in Bangkok/Thailand [15]
