| In
the mid-1990's, as DECT technology was maturing and costs
falling, so it became clear that one of the 'evolutionary
applications' originally envisaged for DECT was beginning
to become economically feasible - namely replacing copper
wire as a means to provide a basic telephone line to the home.
Wireless was becoming cost-comparable with
wire. Given the huge latent demand for telephones in the developing
world, together with the liberalisation of telecommunications
service provision in the developed world, so all the major
telecommunications maunfacturers began to develop products
for wireless local loop.
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A DECT 'profile' for wireless local loop,
WLL, or radio local loop, RLL, as it is also known, was developed
by ETSI to harmonise approaches to this application - the
RAP, Radio local loop Access Profile - essentially indicating
how to use the existing DECT standards to implement a product
for this market. A range of WLL products from the major European
vendors are today available, as listed on the wireless local
loop page of this site.
Many DECT WLL trials were undertaken in countries
all around the world in the mid-1990's. The year of breakthrough
seems to have been 1997 - by the end of 1997 some 2 million
wireless telephone lines using DECT technology had been ordered.
The economic downturn in the far east in 1998 hit this market,
but in 1999 signs of an upturn were evident. Even so, one
third of all wireless local loop lines ordered globally during
1998/99 used DECT technology, making DECT the leading technology
used for wireless local loop across the world.
Many other 'profiles' were also developed
by ETSI, to allow DECT to interwork with ISDN, to interwork
with GSM networks, to allow dual mode DECT/GSM phones to be
built etc. A range of profiles to allow the efficient transport
of data over DECT were also developed and, during 1999 these
data standards were consolidated into the DECT Packet Radio
service, DPRS, and the DECT Multimedia Access Profile, DMAP
(essentially a combination of the DPRS and GAP profiles).
At the start of the 3rd millennium data products are now beginning
to arrive on the market, such as DECT data & ISDN modems,
ISDN based business systems, Multimedia & Home Networking
prducts etc
At the start of 1998 another application of
DECT was launched commercially in Italy - CTM, Cordless Terminal
Mobility. Branded "FIDO" in Italy, CTM is a public
access service, based on DECT, whereby your cordless handset,
as well as operating as a cordless phone at home, can also
be used in city centres to access public DECT basestations.
If someone calls your home telephone and
no-one answers the call is automatically re-routed to the
public network and still reaches you, providing you are in
range of one one of the basestations - if not, it goes to
your voice mailbox in the network. CTM also allows you make
a call in the public areas, as well as supporting an intercom
capability between your public cordless phone and your home
wired telephone.
Unfortunately regulatory changes in Italy
have stifled the commercial development of this service. Regarding
CTM, the technology has been proven, it remains to be seen
whether CTM will be deployed elsewhere and become a commercial
success.
In 1999 in the UK dual mode DECT/GSM service
was launched - OnePhone from BT Cellnet. Other countries have
also indicated an intention to launch such services. However,
as of 2002, they don not appear to have taken off.
At the start of 2002, the hot prospects for
DECT over the coming year look to be data applications. The
advent of Bluetooth has stimulated awareness and is creating
a market for short range wireless data applications. Bluetooth
is at last getting there, but some DECT manufacturers are
already offering a $10 BoM, at present less than Bluetooth.
DECT data could still prove to be a significant market.
Where is DECT going from here ? The answer is certainly to
larger markets, lower costs and new applications. As we've
outlined above, whilst the domestic digital cordless phone
market is maturing in Europe, it is only just beginning in
other parts of the world. Business PABX systems likewise will
proliferate in the years ahead.
The breakthrough of DECT into the wireless
local loop market has now happened - the availability of indigenous
DECT technology in countries like India and China, and the
presence of local industry fora, will ensure that DECT is
not seen simply as a Western solution being forced on developing
countries. The advent of the Internet / WWW is beginning to
open the door to the vast potential DECT holds for data/multimedia
applications, in both developed and developing economies.
As DECT becomes a true commodity technology,
so in the future we may find cheap DECT modules incorporated
in many of today's building control and security systems,
providing intelligent systems that allow automatic control
and alerting, augmenting and replacing today's customised
telemetry and wired systems and proliferating into similar
applications in the home, such as automatic security alerting
in the event of unexpected entry, fire or flood, remote telephone
control of appliances, return channels for interactive television,
and many more. Truly the future lies in one of the well known
descriptions of DECT - "a versatile technology".
Digital
Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications |
DECT
- A Brief Explanation |
How
to choose a DECT cordless phone |
DECT
wireless telephony | The
future of DECT ? |
