Nordic Mobile Telephone 450 MHz operators can choose to deploy Global System for Mobile communications or Code Division Multiple Access technology as the NMT MOU voted to give NMT 450 operators a choice in migrating to digital technology.
Terrestrial trunked radio, another digital technology operators were considering, was voted down at the MOU’s plenary meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, in early October.
Though GSM technology won the majority vote, the MOU believes both technologies have benefits for different operators. Carriers that already operate 900 and 1800 GSM networks may choose to leverage their investment in GSM technology and deploy the same technology in their 450 MHz band.
Others are taking a serious look at Interim Standard-95 CDMA technology either for market differentiation or capacity reasons. Hungary’s Westel Radio Telephone Ltd. and Romanian operator TeleMobil have indicated their interest in deploying CDMA technology.
Eastern Europe is the only region where NMT 450 usage is growing. According to U.K. research group EMC’s World Cellular Database, almost 100,000 new customers signed up for NMT 450 service in Eastern Europe during the first half of this year, while more than 150,000 Western Europeans switched from NMT 450 systems to other systems.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, which is pushing the European Union not to mandate a third-generation mobile phone technology, has monitored the MOU process. U.S. Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade David Aaron in September sent NMT MOU Chairman Bertand Le Guern a letter, urging the chairman not to “take steps that would effectively preclude the choice of multiple standards by operators currently using the 450 MHz band.”
Aaron indicated the U.S. government would be interested in working with the MOU “toward a satisfactory resolution of standards and licensing issues.”
While GSM technology is the mandated standard for Europe’s mobile-phone operators, NMT 450 operators are in a unique position to introduce the technology there because they don’t fall under the auspices of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. And the EU doesn’t control Eastern Europe, where many operators are considering CDMA technology. The NMT MOU historically has created its own analog standards.
However, some NMT 450 operators never received permission from their telecommunications ministries to migrate to digital technology. They will have to convince the regulatory bodies to allow them to offer digital service and hope the ministries don’t mandate a certain technology.
Sources close to the situation indicate regulators in Europe’s Nordic countries have told NMT 450 operators they will revoke their licenses if they try to migrate to digital technology. Regulators are concerned some operators will dominate their markets since they own 900 and 1800 GSM licenses as well as NMT 450 licenses.
