Pretty much since the release of the iPhone in America rumours have been flying around about which network will carry the iPhone in the UK. Some of the rumours have also pointed at a carrier for the rest of Europe, some even suggesting that a certain network may win the entire continent including the UK.
But this particular article is going to look solely at the UK, mainly because in the UK mobile phones are huge business with several carriers in the market this makes it highly competitive market but also very different from any other in the UK.
The UK mobile phone market is made up of five networks; Orange, O2, T-Mobile, 3, and Vodafone.
We’re going to take a look at each of them in more detail but first of all lets look at the technologies in the UK. The biggest gripe before the iPhone release in America was that it ran on EDGE. Although AT&T appears to have put some work into the network and improved the bandwidth throughput.
GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is a very popular standard for mobile networks, GMS operates on multiple frequencies mainly the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands. As a basic technology GSM is unable to deliver packets of data so in the late nineties GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) was coined. Then followed by the higher speed EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution).
GSM is pretty much the basis for the majority of networks worldwide and the UK.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) as mentioned is developed on top of GSM and is widely considered a 2.5G technology. GPRS is a relatively slow but the total throughput can vary quite a bit during usage.
EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is technically a 3G network technology but is considered 2G due to its slower network speeds and has been floating around on GSM networks since 2003.
Now we should take a look at 3G technologies, the term 3G is widely used to describe technologies such as video calling and fast internet access on a mobile. While this is not incorrect, 3G as a network technology doesn’t “technically” exist it is more of a moniker for a bunch of technologies which make it superior to 2G.
Lets look at some of the 3G technologies deployed in the UK.
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is quite a common 3G technology not only in the UK but worldwide. UMTS is also commonly known as 3GSM, showing that the technology is a merger of faster 3G technology and the common GSM standard.
The majority of handsets featuring UMTS also have the ability to run on GSM networks, this is common because the widespread coverage of UMTS is rare where as GSM is much more common.
UMTS supports up to 14.0 Megabits/second data transfers although real life through is around 384 kbit/s.
HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access is a 3G technology that is much faster and a newer technology than UMTS.
Current HSDPA networks support 1.8 Mbit/s, 3.6 Mbit/s, 7.2 Mbit/s and 14.4 Mbit/s in downlink.
As a technology HSDPA has future, this is called HSPA Evolved which could potentially deliver download speeds of 42 Mbit/s.
Now lets take a look at the networks and what technologies they use, this is important for the iPhone because the current hardware release of the iPhone only supports EDGE and GSM.
O2 has the largest user base on the UK with 17.8 million subscribers.
O2 operates both a 2G and 3G network with the 2G network running on GSM with data services on GPRS. The 3G end of the O2 networks runs on both UMTS and HSDPA although the latter is currently thin in its deployment.
O2 has pretty much been at the forefront of the iPhone rumours, two very popular and credible publications have hinted at O2 carrying iPhone in the UK. O2 has been keen to deny the rumours but this commonly means that they are in talks with Apple and don’t want to ruin their chances.
T-Mobile has the second largest subscriber base in the UK with 16.7 million users across its network. These figures are always said to be somewhat skewed due to both Virgin Mobile and Fresh Mobile using the T-Mobile network for their services.
T-Mobile operates a 2G GSM network using GPRS to deliver data services. In 2003 T-Mobile also released a 3G network using both UMTS and now migrating to HSDPA.
T-Mobile has been included in a couple of iPhone rumours, one interesting piece was that the iPhone includes logo files for T-Mobile. Unlike some of the other UK network operators, T-Mobile operates networks across the majority of the world being particularly prevalent in America, Germany and Spain.
Vodafone is the third largest mobile network in the United Kingdom with 16.2 million users, and similar to T-Mobile and O2 operates a 2G GSM network with GPRS. As well as operating a 3G network with UMTS and HSDPA, the latter being much more widely deployed.
Vodafone has always been considered the forefront runner for the iPhone, operating a large network across Europe and a far superior 3G network than any other carrier.
Orange is the fourth largest network provider in the UK with 15.3 million subscribers.
Orange operates a 2G GSM network with GPRS and also runs a 3G network but only currently uses UMTS. Orange also has an EDGE network which it was testing out throughtout 2006. Orange intends to use EDGE where UMTS is unavailable.
This of course means that if the iPhone was to go to Orange then it would have to be capable of UMTS as well as EDGE.
3 is the UK’s sixth largest operator with 3.75 million users.
3 runs an exclusively 3G network, UMTS to be precise, which of course causes a problem when a user hits an area without UMTS coverage. 3 has created a contract with Orange (previously O2) to use its GSM network when uses roam into a UMTS free area.
No rumours surround 3 involve the iPhone to this date.
Other networks, on top of the five main competitors, four more operators exist but they are all MVNO. MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) is exactly what its name suggests the operators run a virtual network.
- Virgin Mobile uses the T-Mobile network for GSM, GPRS UMTS and HSDPA. Virgin Mobile is the largest MVNO provider with 4.5 million users and is the only MVNO to offer 3G services.
- Tesco Mobile runs uses the O2 network for GSM and GPRS.
- MobileWorld uses the Vodafone network for GSM and GPRS.
- Fresh Mobile uses the T-Mobile network for GSM and GPRS.
Looking at the current state of the UK mobile networks, the iPhone will seemingly struggle to fit in. 3G based services are very wide and considered standard on the majority of handsets. Many of the major operators offer TV based services making use of their 3G networks.
Without some form of 3G technology the iPhone stands a good chance of flopping and unless Apple intends to set up its own network or one of the current networks has a hidden EDGE network then the iPhone is simply incapable of operating data services in this country. It should be noted that because the iPhone is a Quad Band GSM phone then it is capable of GPRS, but this is certainly not a technology to tout.
Now to answer the original question of where will the iPhone land in the UK?
To offer a personal opinion I believe the iPhone will land in the hands of O2, not only does it have a huge subscriber base it is also quite prevalent throughout the rest of Europe. My opinion is skewed by that fact that two very credible publications have pointed towards this eventuality.
Preference files for widgets on iPhone | Courtesy iPhoneology
