CDMA Development Group
SINGAPORE-The CDMA Development Group said cdmaOne networks today serve more than 12 million subscribers worldwide, putting the technology on track to reach 18 million subscribers by December.
The CDG’s progress report shows more than 64 cdmaOne licensees, 11 handset vendors and 96 operators worldwide. More than 30 wireless local loop systems will be deployed by the end of the year.
With systems up and running, the cdmaOne industry is looking to drive wireless data acceptance.
While the wireless industry has talked about data taking off for years, it has been slow moving because the products and airtime are too expensive, airlink quality and coverage are poor, and carriers have not pushed the product hard enough, said Sam Samra, technical director with the CDG. According to the Strategis Group, in 1997 wireless data represented only 10 percent of cellular carriers’ total airtime, and much of the success, said the CDG, has been concentrated in selected vertical markets.
Carriers now have a strong reason to look at data with the popularity of the Internet, as subscribers worldwide have reached 122 million.
Incremental improvements in the network will allow carriers to deploy data services and migrate to third-generation systems, say vendors.
The CDG announced last week an initiative to develop enhanced capabilities such as doubled voice capacity, advanced packet data services and more than 300 kilobits per second data capability by 1999.
Operators will be able to choose when they want to deploy these advances, while continuing to benefit from investments in current systems.
Lucent Technologies Inc.
Lucent Technologies Inc. announced it will begin the phased commercialization of its first 3G systems with enhanced high-speed radios.
“As promised, when we announced the Flexent architecture, the upgrades will maintain compatibility with the existing base of cdmaOne network equipment,” said Scott Erickson, Asia-Pacific vice president for Lucent’s Wireless Networks Group.
John Marinho, industry affairs and wireless standards development director with Lucent, said this first phase allows carriers to offer voice and data services without compromising capacity. Operators are concerned about trading off voice capacity for data, he said. In addition, the phase will allow carriers to test the market for data services without making heavy investments.
“This will be the first commercialization of 3G technology within live, revenue-generating networks, not experimental prototypes,” said Erickson. “It requires no network overlays, preserves existing base station investments, and best of all, allows network operators to simultaneously support current-generation and next-generation subscribers.”
Motorola Inc.
Motorola Inc.’s Cellular Infrastructure Group was awarded an initial $21 million contract from Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. to deliver a Code Division Multiple Access network in Dhaka and Chittagong, Bangladesh.
In Dhaka, the digital system will provide service to 50,000 subscribers, operating in tandem with the analog network serving 25,000 that Motorola CIG also supplied.
In Chittagong, the existing analog network will be replaced with the CDMA network with capacity for up to 50,000 subscribers, Motorola CIG said.
Installation of Motorola’s 800 MHz CDMA infrastructure equipment is scheduled to start in July.
Motorola also announced the sale of 50,000 units of fixed wireless terminals to Tata Lucent Technologies Ltd. of India, a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Lucent.
The devices will be used to connect Tata Teleservices subscribers to Tata Lucent 800 MHz CDMA wireless local loop systems in cities in Andhra Pradesh.
In addition, Motorola CIG announced a state of-the-art research and development complex in Tokyo to advance the company’s position in 3G experimental and commercial wireless systems.
Northern Telecom Ltd.
Northern Telecom introduced the Nortel CDMA Minicell at last week’s CDMA World Congress in Singapore.
The company said the base station allows wireless service operators to tailor their networks to meet the demands of network expansion.
