Indonesia's Smart Telecom deploys world's first commercial EV-DO Rev. B network
By Chris Ziegler 
posted January 12th 2010 9:12PM
posted January 12th 2010 9:12PM
You might think that the world's network operators have already sworn off EV-DO's development path as they move forward on 4G deployments, but that's not quite the case: Smart Telecom -- in the Indonesian isle of Bali, of all places -- has just secured its spot in history as the world's first carrier to roll out EV-DO Rev. B. In practical terms, that means subscribers with compatible equipment can expect up to 9.3Mbps down and 5.4Mbps up, a nice little boost from Rev. A's max of 3.1Mbps down and 1.8Mbps up. Only laptop modems will be available to Smart subscribers at first -- that's how it tends to go with new network technologies -- and it expects to complete the upgrade by the end of 2010. Verizon, Sprint, feeling any pangs of jealousy here?
What advantages is there to being the first carrier to do Rev. B on such a small island anyway? Was there a cost savings? Maintenance savings? I don't quite understand.
@SamTime
I have no idea they should have just went to LTE.
Tourism is the main income of that island... and a lot of Aussies stay there for months at a time requiring them to have internet connection to stay in touch with their families back home.
Using the pre-paid structure, the business will boom.
Why Rev B exactly? Because the other bands are already in use by other companies.
@David Susilo
Are you sure about any of that? I thought there is no CDMA network in Australia (http://www.windowsphonethoughts.com/news/show/88799/australia-bids-farewell-to-cdma.html), at least in the sense of 3GPP2 vs UMTS/WCDMA/3GPP.
And what bands are you referring to? The choice of UMTS vs RevA/B isn't related to the RF frequency. For example, AT&T and Verizon both operate in the 800 and 1900 bands.
@junktrunk
I don't mean Aussies bringing their phone to Bali, but I'm talking about internet rental. So Aussies coming to Indonesia can rent those USB CDMA key and use it for the duration while they're in Bali.
In fact, most USB internet key in Indonesia use CDMA bands. They are extremely reliable and quite fast. And for visitors (for example, myself) to the country and needing high speed internet for a couple of weeks to a couple of months, it's a very viable option.
Bali is their pilot project, next target Java.