EV DO Rev B- EV DO Rev.B: Enhanced User Experience

EV-DO Rev. B is a multi-carrier air interface technology evolution of the Rev. A specification which works simultaneously over multiple 1.25 MHz carriers. It maintains the capabilities of EV-DO Rev. A with some significant enhancements. Rev A can allow user traffic to flow over only 1 carrier whereas Rev B allows flow on 3 carriers. Therefore it improves user data rates and transaction latencies, on both forward link and reverse link, in proportion to the number of carriers used-when serving the same number of subscribers as Rev A on the same number of carriers. EV-DO is basically a CDMA2000 standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals for broadband internet access which works on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). It was initially deployed alongside a wireless carriers' voice services with a bandwidth of 1.25 MHz. Since the origin of EV-DO, it has undergone 3 revisions-Revision 0, Revision A, and Revision B.

Upgradation from EV-DO Rev. A hardly needs infrastructure hardware changes and involves a software update to the cell site modem and additional equipment for the new EV-DO carriers. Existing CDMA2000 operators will have to retune existing 1xRTT channels to other frequencies because Rev. B needs 5 MHz of data optimized carriers. The mobile broadband network will increase the speed by 3 times and offers better services including VoIP, voice-on-demand, and media streaming. EVDO Rev B trials revealed an average data rate of 9.3 Mbps down via 5 MHz spectrum and this is a drastic increase over Rev. A's 800 kbps download speed. It offers 65% increase in the uplink data capacity leveraging BTS interference cancellation.

EV-DO Rev. B provides efficient spectrum utilization and delivers end-user performance superior to that of UMTS/HSxPA using only 1 quarter the bandwidth. It provides higher rates per carrier up to 4.9 Mbit/s on the downlink per carrier and the peak rate will be 14.7 Mbit/s as it can be deployed on 2-3 carriers. Higher rates by bundling multiple channels together enhance the user experience and enables new services such as high-definition video streaming. Latency is reduced because of the use of statistical multiplexing across channels. This enhances the experience for latency sensitive services such as gaming, video telephony, remote console sessions, and web browsing. It reduces the interference from the adjacent sectors, especially to users at the edge of the cell signal thus improving the rates that are offered by using hybrid frequency re-use. It supports services that have asymmetric download and upload requirements such as file transfers, web browsing, and broadband multimedia content delivery.

Rev B Boom Worldwide

Sprint and Verizon have rolled out EV-DO Rev B technology. Smart Telecom in Bali is the world's first network operator to deploy an EV-DO Rev. B. In India, Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) is the first company to deploy EV-DO Rev.B technology. This will greatly enhance the existing service speeds of mobile broadband for SSTL. Huawei and ZTE have committed to make Rev. B a compliant hardware. ZTE Gecko is a global leader in CDMA technology. By March 2011, ZTE's CDMA base station capacity raised up to 300 mn lines and the cumulative shipments of CDMA base stations have been more than 310,000. ZTE's CDMA EV-DO Rev. B have been deployed by 7 operators in China, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Romania, etc. In CTIA Wireless 2011, ZTE unveiled the first CDMA ultra-compact multi-carrier 'ZTE Gecko' base station. ZTE has established 70 EV-DO networks in more than 60 countries, including China, the United States, the Czech Republic, Poland, India, and Indonesia. Alcatel-Lucent has said to provide equipment for China Telecom's CDMA/EV-DO Rev. B network.

EV DO Rev B will facilitate CDMA operators to increase their subscriber base. CDMA operators will have to compete with GSM operators who enjoy around 80% market share in India. Hence they ought to offer better user experience especially on data side. With the aid of EV DO Rev B, they can unleash the full potential of applications and services. It enhances the spectrum efficiency to extend mobile talk-time by approximately 30%. At present, there are around 136 mn EV DO users worldwide. To further captivate more users, it should extend mobile broadband network speed by up to 3 times and offer increasingly sophisticated 3G services including VoIP, video-on-demand, and media streaming.

Malini N
malinin@cybermedia.co.in