[Ben]

mmO2 group CTO Dave Williams has said in his "Building for the Future" talk in the Strategic Priorities 05/06 presentation (2004) that the O2 network will never use EDGE.

Instead, Mr. Williams has focussed on their 3G spectrum acquisition, stating that there's no point having EDGE if you have 3G spectrum. This, I assume, means that O2 will be aiming for complete HSDPA coverage in the UK as otherwise the coverage holes will provide a shockingly large difference in transfer speeds.

O2 is also specifically concentrating on building it's 3G network, for now, where existing GPRS usage takes place. So, either they intend for blanket coverage as I mentioned, or they are only interested in providing 'hotspots' where they know they'll get a good return. The removal of EDGE from the equation (giving far more agreeable data speeds when out of 3G coverage) makes this, I feel, unlikely.

It was also stressed that O2 delayed its rollout to wait for HSDPA compatible equipment. Hints were dropped that the other operators may need to manually apply hardware upgrades to their cabinets. Certain 3G providers who launched very early may need significant reinvestment to achieve HSDPA.

I think, in the short to medium term at least, not having EDGE is a bad thing. There are going to be 3G coverage holes for a very long time, and the prospect of dropping down to bog standard GPRS does not appeal to me in the slightest. However, if O2 can get it's 3G rollout right (over 50% coverage by the end of the summer... still not mindblowing) then it may end up in the strongest position at the end of the day.

[Jon3G]

Thats a real shame about the EDGE statement. Overall EDGE looks very promising and I was hoping that it would come soon

[3g-g]

You can only presume that O2 have a long term plan, and it looks as if it's going to be different to that of the other operators in the UK. Voda and Orange seem to be going down the same road and considering Voda's world wide experience you would of thought that it was the safest and most profitable, only time will tell.

One thing I thought O2 might of capitalised on was its youth segment. They have a lot of young customers on either genie pre pay or standard O2 multi-million free text tarrifs, this, IMO would be the easiest bunch to try and move over to UMTS. They would of had the least hangups and issues with taking a new handset etc. But with such a poor 3G footprint maybe it's just not desirable or easy to market. While O2 sit around waiting for HSDPA the big corporate customers, (with O2) who'll be pulling their hair out on 2G GPRS connections will leave... they'll see others using Orange and Voda 3G cards, and although not as fast as HSDPA, which no-one really knows about yet, they'll be speeding their data towards them 5 times quicker than O2 can provide just now.

O2 may have it all planned out in their heads but I just cant see how they'll pull back all the big spenders that get fed up waiting and move over to O or V.

[getti]

Why work on EDGE which can offer 120k speeds when the basic 3G one will get you 384k and O2 are also going to offer 1mb 3G via HSPDA some time before christmas

[Ben]

Because you can acheive EDGE with your GSM network and coverage. Getting the same coverage with 3G, especially HSDPA, will take many, many years and a huge amount of investment in new sites.

A fully integrated network is the best way to go, IMHO.

[@NickyColman]

I think the reason are not going to roll out EDGE is because it would take away customers from 3G. O2 wont want to spend more money giving an EDGE (lol) to their network when they can just concentrate on 3G. Plus, upgrading to EDGE would just bring about more hassle. New handsets, more network maintenance etc. Maybe O2 have a long term plan to get as many people off the older GSM network onto a shiny new 3G one! Giving EDGE would give a reason to stay on GSM

[Jon3G]

I think the reason are not going to roll out EDGE is because it would take away customers from 3G. O2 wont want to spend more money giving an EDGE (lol) to their network when they can just concentrate on 3G. Plus, upgrading to EDGE would just bring about more hassle. New handsets, more network maintenance etc. Maybe O2 have a long term plan to get as many people off the older GSM network onto a shiny new 3G one! Giving EDGE would give a reason to stay on GSM


Upgrading to to EDGE is not a major hassle. Its a simple software upgrade to the the GSM cell sites and Handsets are coming out with EDGE hardware in them.

Nokia 6630 and 6680 I beleive

[3g-g]

The new 3G handsets that are begining to be launched (Nokia 6680 being one of them) will be EDGE capable, it only makes sense for the network operators and equipment manufacturers. You don't want your customers falling out of 3G coverage and having no backup available to them, with EDGE they'll at least keep (reasonable) data rates etc. The main operators have their GSM licences for another 13 years or so, they'll be making sure it still performs to its best.

The good thing about EDGE is the lack of work needed to bring it in, the radio transmitters slot into the existing spaces of whats there just now. A software upgrade on the BSC over night and you're away. None of the big 4 in the UK will be letting anything slip on their existing GSM sides, they're the money makers and get exactly the same treatment as the new UMTS network.

[Ben]

Well, apparently O2 are making that slip - I really think EDGE would bolster their data services. They're just not going to be able to get enough 3G coverage quick enough to make EDGE unnecessary. Plus, there are going to be EDGE capable phones out there (there are already) that don't support 3G.