'Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution' ('EDGE') or 'Enhanced
GPRS' ('EGPRS'), is a digital
mobile phone technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability. Althougth technically a
3G network technology it is generally classified as the unofficial standard 2.75G, due to its slower network speed. EDGE has been introduced into
GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America.
It 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).
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 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 (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.
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.
EGPRS modulation and coding scheme (MCS)
:
Coding and modulation
scheme (MCS) | Speed
(kbit/s/slot) | 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 |
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 2G (such 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 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 following companies have EDGE networks in production:
Americas
Europe and CIS
Multi-country operators:
★
Orange has EDGE networks in
Belgium,
France,
Poland,
Romania,
Slovakia,
UK,
Moldova (see
Orange Moldova) and
Switzerland.
★
T-Mobile
Single country operators:
★
Austria:
Mobilkom Austria provides an EDGE network
[1]
★
Azerbaijan:
Azercell has EDGE network in Baku, the capital.
★
Belarus: Velcom is constructing EDGE network and has partly opened it
[2]
★
Belgium:
BASE (mobile) (almost nationwide)
★
Bulgaria:
Mobiltel has EDGE coverage in the South part and will gradually expand it in the North part of the country in 2007.
★
Croatia:
VIPnet has full EDGE coverage
[3]
★
Czech Republic:
Vodafone has large EDGE coverage, including all the main cities,
O2 Czech Republic uses EDGE at new cells.
T-Mobile uses EDGE in main cities and surrounding areas.
★
Denmark: Telia has EDGE coverage in 98.7% of the country
★
Finland:
TeliaSonera and
Elisa Oyj have large EDGE coverage including all the main cities; also
Dna Finland is constructing a large EDGE/UMTS network and has partly opened it
★
France:
Bouygues Télécom has now an EDGE Network that covers 95% of the population; it is the largest EDGE implementation in
France [4]
★
Georgia:
Beeline (communications) has full EDGE MSC9 network
[5],
Geocell has EDGE networks
[6]
★
Germany:
Vodafone and
O2 are currently upgrading to EDGE regions with no
UMTS coverage,
T-Mobile finished upgrading in spring 2007
★
Hungary:
Pannon GSM have a wide coverage of EDGE, even in some rural areas in addition to major cities and motorways
★
Iceland:
Siminn has EDGE coverage
★
Ireland:
Meteor Mobile Communciations, is upgrading its existing 2.5G Network to EDGE throughout the country in 2006/07; also
Vodafone Ireland, has an EDGE network where GPRS is supported. O2 Ireland now have upgraded to EDGE
★
Italy:
TIM supports EDGE wherever GPRS is already supported; also
Wind is upgrading the existing network to EDGE, while it is already available in several cities
★
Jersey, Channel Islands:
Jersey Telecom has EDGE coverage
★
Latvia:
LMT has an EDGE network since 2005
★
Lithuania:
Bite Lietuva has a nationwide EDGE network in the country, and was one of the first to launch it in Europe (December 2003)
★
Moldova:
Moldcell has EDGE networks in large cities
[7]
★
Netherlands:
Telfort had full EDGE coverage, however this was phased out as of July 2007.
★
Norway:
Telenor and
Netcom both operate separate, nation-wide networks. Both have complete EDGE coverage.
★
Poland:
Era and
Plus have EDGE coverage.
★
Romania:
Orange Romania
★
Russia:
MegaFon,
Mobile TeleSystems,
Beeline (telecommunications) have partial EDGE coverage. So such regional
GSM operators as
BWC in
Irkutsk Oblast,
VNTC in
Primorsky Krai and
ETK also have partial EDGE coverage.
★
Serbia:
Telenor Serbia has partial EDGE coverage
★
Slovenia:
Si.mobil - Vodafone has EDGE 90% coverage, all major settlements are covered
[8]
★
Sweden:
Telia/
TeliaSonera has EDGE coverage
★
Switzerland:
Sunrise a subsidiary of TDC has EDGE that cover 99% of the population and was first with EDGE in the country; also
Swisscom thru Swisscom Mobile's EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) network has EDGE networks that cover 99% of the population.
★
Turkey:
Turkcell and
Avea have EDGE coverage.
★
Ukraine:
UMC was the first mobile operator in the country and today provides for more than 16 millions of subscribers an opportunity to communicate using EDGE; also
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; third largest mobile operator in Ukraine with more than 6 million subscribers having 80% coverage of inhabited territories with EDGE enabled network.
Africa
★
Egypt:
Mobinil was willing to implement EDGE technology, However, The Egyptian National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority NTRA has forbidden Mobinil to conduct EDGE deployments. The NTRA considered this technology part of 3G and not 2G, Mobinil has not yet acquired a license to operate 3G therefore stopped all EDGE deployments.
★
Kenya:
Safaricom has introduced this service to enhance the Mobile Internet speeds that subscribers currently experience on their GPRS network; also
Celtel has launched EDGE in
Nairobi and GPRS countrywide
★
South Africa:
Cell C has EDGE coverage;
MTN and
Vodacom has EDGE coverage for large areas
★
Mozambique:
Vodacom has EDGE coverage for large areas
★
Tunisia:
Tunisiana
★
Zambia:
Celtel has launched EDGE in
Lusaka and GPRS countrywide
★ Tanzania: Vodacom has intraducted 3G and EDGE technology
Middle East
★
Israel:
Cellcom has EDGE coverage
★
Iran :
MTN Irancell has EDGE in several cities
★
Saudi Arabia:
[9]Mobily has EDGE technology as the base for all of the telecomunication towers but in the cities it has 3G also in their network.
★
Saudi Arabia:
Aljawal.STC has EDGE technology about 10% only in his network
★
United Arab Emirates:
ETISALAT has a wide EDGE coverage that covers most of the seven emirates.
★
Egypt : the three operators (
Mobinil ,
Vodafone Egypt &
Etisalat-Masr)offer EDGE technology for their clients .
Asia
Asia and Far East
★
Bangladesh:
'Grameenphone',
Aktel &
Warid Telecom have launched EDGE services.
★
China:
China Mobile launched EDGE services in
Guangdong province in 2005. Shanghai has good EDGE coverage through China Mobile (2007)
:
★
Hong Kong: Peoples; also
CSL, under the brands
1O1O and
One2Free
★
India:
Bharti Airtel,
MTNL,
!dea and
Vodafone under the brand
Hutch have launched EDGE services. As of July 2007,
BSNL's plans for introducing the service are pending since year 2003.
[1]
[10] [11] [12]
★
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 is testing EDGE service in major cities; also
Telenor (Pakistan) provides EDGE coverage in major cities;
★
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 is running an EDGE implementation in
Bangkok [13]; also
Advanced Info Service (AIS) has EDGE coverage; also
True Move has deployed EDGE in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area
Australasia
★
Australia:
Telstra
See also
★
UMTS
★
WiFi
★
Spectral efficiency comparison table
★
Option N.V.
★
List of device bandwidths
References
1. ''BSNL Expansion Delayed Yet Again'' - Light Reading (July 11, 2007).
External links
★
GSM World: EDGE Platform
★
3g-generation.com: GPRS and EDGE
★
Ericsson.com: EDGE Description (PDF file - White Paper explains EGPRS)
★
Moldcell: brief comparison of EDGE vs GPRS and other benefits.
★
Nokia - How EDGE for mobile devices works
★
3GPP Vocabulary
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