2Degrees 3G Data Capabilities

2Degrees Mobile operates cellular networks at 900 and 2100MHz, with 3G supported only at 2100MHz. The most recent published subscriber statistics show 2Degrees Mobile with 206,000 subscribers.

As at 1 February 2011, 2Degrees was licensed for 481 towers in the 2.1GHz UMTS band. Each record in the data set below shows registration of 15MHz of occupied bandwidth. License conditions specify a channel sizes of 5MHz, so it is likely 2Degrees are operating 3 cells per tower, or 1443 cells. 2Degrees built their network in conjunction with Huawei, so it is assumed that Huawei’s “New Generation Node B” base station is utilized. The link provided cites New Zealand as a commercial deployment location.

The data service available is HSPA, however 2Degrees has announced in the media that HSPA+ will be enabled on the network in 2011. HSPA+ takes advantage of MIMO, a technique where data carrying wave forms exit antennas in both vertical and horizontal orientations. All 2Degrees licenses indicate such “mixed polarization” antennas are in use, so it is likely that software upgrades to the Huawei NodeB base stations will allow 2Degrees to take advantage of HSPA+ without replacing equipment at their sites. At the time of this survey, only HSPA is available on the network.

Technology Bandwidth / Cell Number of Cells Aggregate BW Subscribers Bandwidth / Sub
HSPA 14.4/0.384 mbps 1443 20.8/0.54 gbps 206,000 101/2.7 kbps

The map below shows the location of all 2.1GHz UMTS licenses associated with 2Degrees.

[iframe http://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?viz=MAP&q=select+col0%2C+col1%2C+col2+from+432442+&h=false&lat=-42.94033923363182&lng=174.287109375&z=5&t=1&l=col1 100% 400px]

The table below shows the license numbers, centre frequencies, bandwidth/modulation, and location names of all of the 2.1GHz UMTS licenses associated with 2Degrees.

[iframe http://www.telco2.co.nz/2degrees-licenses.html 100% 400px]