Recent developments in Japan suggest standards leaders there realize they must deal with the cdma2000 third-generation proposal.
Japan’s standards body, the Association of Radio Businesses (ARIB), recently concluded that both W-CDMA, based on the GSM platform, and cdma2000 third-generation proposals are valid proposals and meet the objectives of International Mobile Telecommunications-2000-a technology initiative of the International Telecommunication Union that aims to develop a worldwide family of systems for next-generation mobile phone technology that will allow for high-speed data services and global roaming.
In addition, ARIB and the Telecommunications Technology Committee, a Japanese IMT-2000 special committee, have agreed to partner with the American National Standards Institute’s 3G Wireless Ad Hoc committee to create a project that will develop specifications for the ANSI-41 standard and its associated radio interfaces, said George Arnold, a member of the ANSI committee and director of standards and intellectual property with Lucent Technologies Inc.
Japan already is part of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s 3G Partnership Project that aims to develop global specifications for the W-CDMA standard.
Vendors say the moves are significant if cdma2000 technology is ever going to enter Japan because the country submitted only one 3G standard-GSM-based wideband Code Division Multiple Access-to the ITU. ARIB has been working to converge the two CDMA standards, but has been caught in the crossfire of the battle between U.S vendors that favor convergence and European manufacturers that strongly want W-CDMA technology. All are fighting a political battle for access to the multibillion-dollar market in the next century that promises Internet-friendly handsets with sophisticated high-speed data and global roaming features.
ARIB has been unable to iron out some technical differences between the two CDMA standards. One major difference involves the chip rate (cdma2000 employs 3.686 Megachips per second while W-CDMA employs 4.096 Mcps). Convergence proponents want the single standard to operate at 3.6 Mcps to allow for backward compatibility to current cdmaOne Interim Standard-95 networks. W-CDMA advocates claim lowering the chip rate degrades the standard.
U.S. vendors have feared cdma2000 would be pushed out of Japan. They expected Japan to submit both CDMA standards to the ITU in June, but the country decided to submit only the W-CDMA standard and leave cdma2000 specifications as secondary options. NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s and the world’s largest wireless carrier, strongly backs the W-CDMA standard, and is said to have a great deal of influence over the standard’s process. ARIB already was working with the W-CDMA proposal DoCoMo submitted with the help of Sweden-based L.M. Ericsson when the standards body invited the cdma2000 camp to submit its proposal. DoCoMo, with 20 million subscribers, needs to launch IMT-2000 services in the beginning of 2001 to relieve congestion.
“DoCoMo has said that if you can get the Europeans to change, then we will change,” said a U.S. industry executive in June.
Japan only wants one 3G standard. Despite ARIB’s efforts to negotiate with ETSI, which has yet to show interest in converging the two standards, and the United State’s Telecommunications Industry Association and the T1P1 committee-which together submitted four different proposals to the ITU in June-the Japanese are afraid U.S. and European vendors will never agree.
“There are two alternatives for the Japanese,” said one Japanese source close to ARIB. “One is a converged CDMA standard. The other is two CDMA standards [developed] in parallel. Everybody has recognized that one standard is better, but they are concerned that the Americans and Europeans may never agree. Presently, the Japanese RTT proposal is almost identical to the European proposal, and the Japanese are afraid it would destroy their relationship with the Europeans if they try to come closer to cdma2000.”
Japan wants to play a significant role in the global scene for 3G technology. The country isolated itself in the past by deploying a digital standard-developed by DoCoMo-incompatible with the rest of the world’s digital standards. Japanese vendors have been limited in providing infrastructure worldwide. To make sure the country would not isolate itself again, Japan’s leaders years ago set DoCoMo in charge of taking the lead to develop 3G technology. DoCoMo invited vendors from around the world to participate in experiments, and L.M. Ericsson and Finland-based Nokia Oy took the lead, while cdmaOne innovator Qualcomm Inc. lacked the resources at the time to participate.
Since then, DoCoMo has made technical contributions to ETSI and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the GSM MoU Association to develop Global System for Mobile communications technology as the core network technology for 3G services. The carrier is planning a W-CDMA field test this fall.
Sources say the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is likely to support both cdma2000 and W-CDMA standards if the ITU backs cdma2000 as one of the IMT-2000 radio interfaces and Japanese operators want to introduce cdma2000 technology in their markets. Two of Japan’s operators, DDI and IDO, already have committed to cdmaOne technology and have agreed to jointly develop cdma2000 technology. The two firms said they would support convergence. Japan Telecom plans to test a W-CDMA network.
But sources also indicate the Japanese know convergence may be the only way to solve intellectual-property-rights issues. Qualcomm claims to hold key IPRs to W-CDMA technology and has made clear that it will not grant them unless convergence is achieved. The ITU, which received 15 proposals that mostly incorporate W-CDMA technology, has said it will throw out by Dec. 31 standards that have unresolved IPR issues attached.
“As Japan is the first country to actually introduce 3G systems to the market, they eventually may be put in the position to make their own critical decision without waiting for a possible deal between the Americans and Europeans,” said one source.
Meanwhile, convergence of the two CDMA proposals remains a sensitive issue for European GSM operators that already feel they’ve taken a bold step in accepting a CDMA standard developed in Japan for 3G service.
The CDMA Development Group and a group of U.S. IS-95 operators recently toured Europe to meet with operators and get the convergence issue resolved. Details of the meetings were not made public.
“We’ve been pushing very hard for convergence and trying to deal with this on a carrier-to-carrier basis as opposed to watching the manufacturers battle it out,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “It looks like carriers are going to work together to get this resolved. It’s important for them to get input into the ITU.”
The 3G debate is sure to heat up within the coming months as the ITU begins efforts to harmonize the various proposals. ETSI said it recognizes that Qualcomm owns CDMA IPRs, but is now determining whether they are key to the W-CDMA standard. Qualcomm claims to hold broad patents for W-CDMA technology, including soft-handoff and power control features.
