This may be the year that Code Division Multiple Access technology becomes a commercial reality for cellular operators, with one system already running in Hong Kong and four nearing completion in the United States.
Systems launched today are deployed with an 8-kilobit vocoder chips for voice quality. U.S. companies say that if they launch now with base stations and handsets designed for 8 kilobit, they can make the transition to 13-kilobit chips when they become available sometime this year.
Hutchison Telephone Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong launched a $79 million CDMA cellular network in October, but the company won’t say how many new customers it has recruited. Hutchison plans to migrate customers from its Advanced Mobile Phone Service analog network to the CDMA network throughout 1996 and 1997.
“It is up and running. At first there were not enough handsets, but now things are being stepped up and it’s picking up at a faster rate,” said Hutchison spokeswoman Laura Cheung.
Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego provides the dual-mode AMPS/CDMA handsets, which were manufactured through a joint venture between Qualcomm and Sony Electronics. About 1,000 of the QCP-800 portable phones initially were shipped to Hong Kong; as of last month Qualcomm will have shipped 10,000 phones to the bustling Asian city. Motorola Inc. manufactured the infrastructure and built the system.
“If we can put a CDMA system in Hong Kong, with that (congested) RF environment, we can put one anywhere,” said Qualcomm spokeswoman Julie Cunningham.
Hutchison laid an 8-kilobit network over its analog network so it could compete immediately in the city. American operators are testing with 8-kilobit chips but anticipating the 13-kilobit chip. Qualcomm said it will offer the 13-kilobit chip equipment in this year’s first quarter; other manufacturers expect to have it later in the year.
At least four CDMA networks are scheduled to be launched commercially in the United States in 1996, or semi-commercially in the case of the California system. CDMA markets expected to go online this year will be Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix and Chicago.
After failing to meet its fall deadline to offer CDMA commercial service, AirTouch Communications Inc. is not giving a second time line for when it expects to offer the digital service.
AirTouch has been working on its Los Angeles system since Motorola installed the equipment last summer. AirTouch said the system has met 95 percent of rollout milestones. The San Francisco-based operator’s strategy doesn’t include a broad, commercial rollout; AirTouch will transfer high volume users to CDMA first, followed by a broad rollout of CDMA throughout the Los Angeles area at an undesignated time in the future.
“We’re working through some sound quality upgrades and we’re not happy with the drop call rate at this time, but these are common problems,” said AirTouch spokeswoman Amy Damianakes.
The CDMA buildout is north of the San Fernando Valley. “We’re repositioning antennas, changing the power level. Deploying CDMA is complex in the L.A. basin because it’s a noisy radio environment,” Damianakes said. Handsets come from Qualcomm/Sony and Oki telecom.
U S West NewVector intends to deploy CDMA in the Seattle area and in Phoenix this year. Six 8-kilobit CDMA sites have been built in Bellevue, Wash., and the technical phase was completed in mid-fall, said NewVector spokeswoman Lisa Bowersock. The marketing phase is beginning now, with employees and select customers using the CDMA phones. That test is scheduled to be completed during the first quarter. More than 100 cell sites have been converted to CDMA in western Washington and commercial deployment in that region is expected in the second quarter.
In Phoenix, U S West has completed the transition to CDMA switches and cell sites-a $100 million investment-and expects to turn on CDMA service in Phoenix after Seattle. U S West is using 8-kilobit Qualcomm handsets.
Ameritech Cellular Services is trialing CDMA in Chicago, waiting for the 13-kilobit vocoder equipment. “We feel the customers need the high voice quality,” said Evan Richards, Ameritech Cellular’s vice president of networks.
One big advantage CDMA brings to wireless is its ability to perform soft handoffs, Richards said. Groups that oppose CDMA have said soft handoffs won’t work and that the cellular companies haven’t successfully deployed CDMA because of that alleged problem.
Richards said, “Soft handoffs are working. I was doing some testing just last night and saw soft handoffs occurring. You can’t hear them with your ear because there’s no muting of the conversation.”
Detroit and St. Louis will be Ameritech’s second and third markets for CDMA deployment beginning in 1997, followed by Ohio and Wisconsin markets.
The nation of Korea also is expected to deploy CDMA technology this year.
