Skip, Per a presentation at the CDMA Americas Congress last week, it was stated that sadly as it is, operators in Europe are not being driven by cost. To them, it is not the least expensive migration path, but the technology of choice being provided by the vendors that will dictate their technology roadmap. The market in Europe, it was presented, it driven by vendors and not by operators needs. This is how and why there is such a big push for for GPRS, and then EDGE--more infrastructure equipment will be sold by the vendors--the drivers of the technology. And the operators go along with the vendors and justify the cost by keeping "home grown" mentality (built in our own country, etc)--regardless of cost effectiveness. This is probably why we saw the announcement yesterday that Vodofone Airtouch will be rolling out GPRS in one of their European markets in the near future. Sad as it is, this is just the way the culture is in that region. I am personally hoping that when new spectrum is auctioned off in Europe, we can get some backers of CDMA2000 to buy that spectrum, roll out CDMA2000, then put the local operators at a signifcant cost disadvantage. Then, at that time, maybe they will be forced to reconder. But then again, to reconsider would be to admit defeat, and that just won't happen with that culture. Interesting angle, no?
Regards,
Jeff |
