If you've been following up on industry news lately, you will have read quite a number of articles on the big money being spent on 3G licenses in Germany. The final tally came to approximately $46 billion during the license auction with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobil operation coming in as the highest bidder, having spent almost $6.8 billion on their piece of the pie. The revenue generated from the auction far eclipsed the $35 billion generated in the UK for the licenses and all eyes are now on the USA where the expenditures would be enormous.

The spending doesn't stop there for the operators, though. There will be costs related to the installation of the 3G networks, the promotion of the services to the general public, plus the design and implementation of applications. For Germany alone, Forrester Research estimates that $5.5 billion will be spent on the installation of the networks, along with even more billions of dollars spent on the design of applications and the promotional activities.

What does this all mean for WAP? You've probably read in those same reports that with the advent of 3G, WAP itself would be made an obsolete protocol. With the rise of a high-speed network that is capable of delivering full multi-media applications, why would one want to use a protocol that is ancient in its focus on little league web applications?

To answer these questions, let's first take a look at what each technology covers.

3G

3G wireless networks are high-speed packet-switched mobile voice/data networks. The 3G standards, currently defined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), are be deployed in carrier networks throughout the world in a phased approach over the next several years.

It is expected that wireless network service providers around the world can migrate their existing digital cellular networks to 3G network infrastructures over time as they take a step-by-step approach with technology installation. The first step, 1XRTT, will have already started in some countries this year and expected to be finished by early next year. Network speeds will be up to 144 kbps in this initial phase. The next phase, 3XRTT, will probably begin in 2002 with the focus on delivering network speeds of up to 384 kbps. Future steps will move to incorporate speeds of up to 2 Mbps and that should be recognized before the end of the decade. Using this evolutionary approach to building a 3G network enables service providers to continue using their existing infrastructure (collectively known as 2G) and recoup existing network investments while preparing for the future.

At each new 3G network phase, mobile network operators will be able to offer their subscribers substantial additional benefits. These benefits include significantly higher network speeds (compared to the current 14.4 kbps limit), standard interoperability among different operators' networks and mobile phones, and application services that are much more sophisticated.

WAP

WAP is an open global specification that dictates how mobile devices and the Internet communicate between each other, with special focus on how the information will be presented o the end-user device. The standards behind the protocol itself are dictated by the WAP Forum, an industry association that represents over 95% of the mobile communication market, including the major carriers, device manufacturers, and software developers.

The markup language associated with the protocol is Wireless Markup Language (WML) and this itself is a subset of Extensible Markup Language (XML). All content structure rules defined by XML are directly incorporated into WML.

WAP also has a security specification known as WTLS which includes options for encryption and authentication. Hence, security on the wireless web is made to be similar to what is found on the traditional web in the form of SSL.

What's the Difference?

The difference here can be pointed out on which protocol stack layer each covers . 3G has its focus on the transportation of information and, therefore, operates at the lower layers of the OSI model (namely the Network Layer up to part of the Session Layer). WAP focuses on the interaction between the end user device and the Internet and also defines the presentation of the information to the end user. As such, WAP covers the upper layers of the model (the Presentation Layer up to the Application Layer, plus part of the Session Layer).

Let's take a look at that again, under an every day situation that you and I face.

Joe meets Al who has come from point B to point A to meet him and ask that he make an emergency speech to the UN. Joe quickly gathers his data together and follows Al to the car. To get to point A, he has a choice of going down the freeway or through the suburbs. Obviously, with time at a critical limit, he decides to go down the freeway. As he drives down in his Volvo, he notices the speed limit signs which dictate that he cannot drive faster than 60 mph. When Joe reaches point B, he remembers that he is 3rd of 6 speakers so he sits down in his chair waiting for his turn. When Joe takes the podium, he notes to the international crowd that his speech will be done in English only.

If we compare this situation to our question, we can note the following:

• When Al makes the request from Joe and the data is gathered, this is part of WAP as the request for information has been made from one point to another for specific information.

• The freeway is the 3G network and the speed limits are the speed constraints that we face for transmissions. The fact that you need a car to get on the freeway is also a constraint dictated by 3G.

• The Volvo is WAP, which carries the information through the freeway.

• The presentation lineup and the note to the crowd that the presentation will be in English are also WAP, which dictates how the information will be presented.

Knowing this difference means that one cannot say that 3G will replace WAP but rather that the two will complement each other. 3G is a core network technology whereas WAP is the platform standard through which applications will be defined. As 3G networks evolve, WAP itself will evolve along with it as the technology progresses enough to allow for refined multimedia applications to be realized.