At times, it has seemed as if the momentum around 3G was almost completely stalled. Yet a closer look reveals that only the overblown 3G hype has died. Forward-looking participants continue to invest toward 3G deployments. According to a recent Business Week article, European operators will order roughly $1.5 billion in 3G equipment this year. That number is expected to climb to $5.5 billion in 2004. Spain's Telefonica, for example, has already installed 750 3G-capable base stations in 21 cities. It has kickoff plans for early next year. Test networks also are up and running in 24 European countries. Within the coming year, initial commercial 3G services are expected to launch in Britain, Finland, and Italy.

Obviously, the telecommunications business sector is striving to move forward with third-generation service offerings. During this time, major technological challenges must be addressed and overcome in nearly every facet of the industry. It is imperative for both carriers and service providers to give their subscribers a smooth transition to new 3G-based applications and services. At the same time, they must guarantee the integrity of their third-generation infrastructures and handsets.

A successful transition to 3G will require the ready availability of rigorously tested, 3G-capable handsets. The development and testing of handsets has been held up, however, by a lag in the demand for 3G services. No one can predict when the upswing will occur for 3G market demand. This uncertainty has fed a general atmosphere of postponement among many industry players. "Wait and see" has erroneously appeared to be the safest choice. Unfortunately, given the relatively long time cycles needed for developing handset products, the 3G window of opportunity has become tighter with each delay or postponement.

As a result, operators and their handset suppliers are facing a difficult squeeze. They want to meet their 3G rollout objectives and jumpstart the market with advanced 3G handsets. At the same time, they want to make sure that they are not at risk for any handset problems that can cause loss of reputation and/or costly recalls. Thankfully, a solution does exist. The answer lies in compliance testing using comprehensive test suites to rigorously exercise complex 3G protocol stacks.

The Third Generation Partnership Project, or 3GPP, has taken the first step through the high-level definition of hundreds of industry-standard test cases for 3G products. It is appropriate for the creation of "prose" test-case definitions to be addressed via an industry-wide standards-setting organization like 3GPP. Unfortunately, 3GPP's implementation of specific real-world test suites could lag significantly behind the carriers' increasingly critical 3G-deployment schedules. The experts within the wireless-test industry segment best handle the critical next step of implementing actual test programs and platforms.

An effective test strategy will thoroughly exercise 3G device designs and functionality across a range of normal and abnormal operating conditions. In complex communications structures like 3G systems, this need translates into the explicit testing of protocol stacks in hundreds of different specific and repeatable situations.

Handset developers, on the other hand, will perform low-level module tests and then move on to integration testing. To ensure correct operation, however, the handset needs to be thoroughly tested as a complete entity.

In light of the increasing complexity of 3G systems, providers cannot afford to rely only on operational testing as they roll out new products and services. If they did, they might have handsets in the field that will not function properly as new services are added. This scenario could potentially lead to costly product recalls and loss of competitive position. The only viable solution is to conduct comprehensive pre-deployment testing of handsets using the 3GPP-defined test specifications.

Here are examples of the 3GPP test coverage that is required by GCF:

• Idle mode
• Basic procedures:
• MO call
• MT call
• Packet- and circuit-switched data
• Lower-layer protocol RLC, MAC
• Cell selection and re-selection
• Handovers
• Simultaneous services: speech + data
• Interoperation between the third generation and 2G or 2.5G

For handset manufacturers to assure the compliance of their product offerings, all of the test cases must efficiently run on target testing hardware. Handset manufacturers and 3G service providers cannot afford to wait for 3GPP to develop idealized abstract test programs. Such programs would then need to be adapted for specific test platforms.