Swedish telecommunications giant L.M. Ericsson is promoting the application of wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology, and recently announced a partnership with Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corp. of Japan to develop commercial uses for W-CDMA.
The announcement has raised a few eyebrows for a number of reasons.
The Japanese government recently selected CDMA as the nation’s pocket phone standard, casting a vote against the Ericsson-supported Global System for Mobile communications standard. The decision was a critical blow to Ericsson because Japan is a heavily populated, expanding wireless market.
Also, Ericsson is the only major telecommunications manufacturer that refuses to support Qualcomm Inc.’s Interim Standard 95, the narrowband CDMA voice standard being deployed worldwide. Ericsson has consistently opposed IS-95 for years, initially saying it wasn’t ready for commercial deployment and probably could not work when deployed. Now that CDMA systems are operating in North America and Asia, Ericsson’s stated position is “IS-95 is designed primarily for voice communications and has only limited data capabilities today.
“We have a particular interest in W-CDMA which, along with other wideband technologies, holds great promise for delivering the next generation of digital wireless multimedia services.”
Qualcomm said it is “poignantly ironic” that Ericsson is advocating a Code Division Multiple Access solution after denying the technology’s viability for so many years.
IS-95 uses 1.25 megahertz of spectrum; anything wider than 1.25 megahertz is considered wideband. Ericsson’s W-CDMA solution uses 5 megahertz and in tests transmits data at 144 kilobits per second, a speed Ericsson wants to improve to 384 kbps.
Ideally, a wideband network such as Ericsson’s would allow the transmission of large data files as well as video. No W-CDMA systems operate commercially today.
Ericsson seems to be more interested in saving face than making a business decision based on market demand, said Ira Brodsky, president of DataComm Research Co., Chicago.
“Ericsson could be using this (W-CDMA technology) as a political distraction, something it can tell its GSM customer … that Ericsson has a better CDMA system for them to migrate to in time,” Brodsky said.
The company said that at the network level, a close relationship exists between W-CDMA and existing standards like GSM and Japan’s Personal Digital Cellular systems.
Ericsson wants clients to be able to introduce this capability into their existing networks and offer multimedia services on an add-on basis, the company said.
Entering the Japanese market now with W-CDMA is an astute political step, said Herschel Shosteck, president of Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd., Wheaton, Md.
“Japan was seeing InterDigital’s relationship with Samsung. Consider the rivalry between the Japanese and Koreans,” Shosteck said.
Pennsylvania-based InterDigital Communications Inc. has created a Broadband CDMA product in conjunction Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Siemens AG. Although the first application for InterDigital’s B-CDMA is wireless local loop, it’s still akin to the W-CDMA idea of Ericsson.
The Japanese wanted a similar application and Ericsson needed a Japanese inroad. Hence, a relationship of convenience.
Brodsky said GSM operators may need Ericsson’s W-CDMA, but operators that already have an IS-95 system need only to put four 1.25 channels together to create a W-CDMA system.
“There’s a legitimate migration route to wideband in IS-95. Why should anyone wait for Ericsson?” Brodsky stated.
Qualcomm spokesman James Lee said, “Wideband CDMA is a very exciting concept still in its infancy and everyone is working furiously on it. We are working on it as well.”
Ericsson doesn’t have to move into CDMA because it is such a leader in GSM technology, said Peter Nighswander, senior telecom consultant with The Strategis Group. “Their strength is in GSM and IS-136.”
