HONG KONG-The CDMA Development Group last week announced support for Qualcomm Inc.’s High Data Rate technology as a third-generation technology, but agreed to leave room open for other competing technologies such as Motorola Inc.’s and Nokia Corp.’s 1xtreme technology.
The CDG has submitted the proposal to the Third Generation Partnership Project 2, a standards body established by the Telecommunications Industry Association to work on 3G technology. Known as 1X EV, the standard specifies how 1XRTT technology will evolve to megabit data speeds.
The standard was needed since vendors were pushing their own megabit data enhancements to the 1X standard, a 3G standard that doubles voice capacity and adds packet data speeds of up to 144 kilobits per second. Many cdmaOne operators in the Asia Pacific region have aggressive schedules to deploy 1X by early next year. Korean operators SK Telecom and KT Freetel plan to deploy the technology by the end of the year. U.S. operators will make selective deployments likely next year.
Many operators are becoming convinced of the value of deploying megabit data services as soon as possible but were growing concerned about the fragmented proposals vendors were presenting for the prospect.
In particular, Qualcomm and Lucent Technologies Inc. were pitted against Motorola and Nokia. Motorola announced plans earlier this year to challenge Qualcomm’s 2.4-megabit HDR technology, introducing its own 1X enhancement for carriers to consider. Nokia later announced support for Motorola’s technology, called 1xtreme, which promises integrated voice and data with transmission speeds of 5.2 megabits, rather than the data-only channel concept HDR technology provides.
Qualcomm, however, has been developing the technology for three years, and carriers will have the ability to deploy it by the end of next year. Some modifications have been made to the standard such as the ability to hand off to 1X systems.
After standards work is completed in August, the 3GPP2 will begin work on the second phase of the 1X EV (1X Evolution) standard, considering the 1Xtreme proposal and others such as LinkAir’s LAS-CDMA solution that is supposed to offer about 5 megabit data speeds.
The 1xtreme proposal was still on paper, which is why cdmaOne operators and other vendors supported HDR technology, which fits into a standard 1.25 megahertz channel. Motorola, however, said it isn’t giving up on the technology because it is convinced of the value of voice and data services on the same 1.25 megahertz channel. HDR is a data-only solution. Customers want Motorola and Nokia to prove the technology works.
“They need us to show it,” said Neal Campbell, director of CDMA product operations for Motorola’s Network Solutions Sector. “We still believe in the value. We see a need for integrated voice and data devices rather than handing off to 1X . We’re pushing to get technical trials so operators can see the product.”
Motorola and Nokia are aiming for trials in December. Qualcomm has said data is more efficient on a data-only channel. Motorola and Nokia also have submitted 1xtreme to the 3GPP standards body, the European standards body working on wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology.
With the enhancements CDMA carriers are talking about, many question the need for CDMA operators to move toward 3G wideband systems when they can get the same performance at lower costs and less spectrum with narrowband systems. Most vendors and operators aren’t even looking at developing wideband 3XRTT technology.
“CDMA 1X trials are taking place across the globe with 3G commercial services to debut this year,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “And now, by extending the cdma2000 1X standard, the CDMA community will only continue to leapfrog the competition in providing worldwide subscribers with advanced services.”
Vendors such as Lucent, Nortel Networks and Samsung Electronics have announced successful 1X voice calls. Nortel announced last week packet data and voice call trials on Australian operator Telstra’s network.
