SAN FRANCISCO-Saying the timing is right to pursue the Code Division Multiple Access technology-based handset market, Nokia Mobile Phones Inc. announced it plans to build phones for the CDMA market.
Nokia said it has designed its own chipset to be used in its handsets, the first of which are scheduled to be commercially available this summer. The company plans to build its first CDMA phone, a dual-mode 800 MHz handset, based on Nokia’s 2100 series.
The company’s initial CDMA products will support an 8 kilobit-per-second vocoder and 13 kbps vocoder. The phones also will fully support IS-95A features such as short messaging and caller line identification, said Nokia.
Nokia established a CDMA research center in San Diego in 1991. But the company to date is noted more for its devices based on Global System for Mobile communications technology, including the Nokia 9000 Communicator.
“This announcement further validates the acceptance of CDMA technology,” said Larry Paulson, vice president of business development for Nokia. “From our perspective, CDMA, TDMA and GSM complement each other.”
“Clearly, this will be the year for digital in the U.S.,” said Lauri Kivinen, senior vice president of Nokia Group.
In related product news, Nokia said its Time Division Multiple Access Interim Standard 136 wireless phones will be equipped with the new enhanced full rate vocoder (EFR).
The TDMA EFR ACELP vocoder incorporates Nokia’s technology, developed by Nokia and the University of Sherbrooke in Canada.
