The Latin American frequency decision has been delayed into June. Presumably because they wnat to wait and see how certain Asian issues play out. As far as I know, the decision is not about GSM versus CDMA - it's about 1800 MHz versus 1900 MHz. This is almost the same thing, since if the 1800 MHz proposal wins, it means that it will be used for GSM-1800 licenses. If the 1900 MHz proposal wins, it might be used for both CDMA and TDMA licenses.
However, the important thing here is the 3G angle; selecting the 1800 MHz frequency for new licenses would mean that W-CDMA can be implemented in the same way that it is being implemented in Europe and Asia. If 1900 MHz is selected, it hogs some frequencies needed by W-CDMA, and this would prevent W-CDMA from being introduced to Brazil in its current form.
That's why the China/Australia/Korea/Hong Kong decisions on 3G are so important - Brazil is expected to take its cue from Asia. If it looks like W-CDMA is going to sweep all of the leading operators in Asia (SK, Hutchison, Telstra, Japan Telecom, DoCoMo, possibly the Chinese operators if they drop their bizarre "Chinese 3G" project), it means that bringing W-CDMA to Latin America might be the safest way to approach 3G. This would bring the Brazilian operators in line with the biggest operators in Europe and Asia.
Selecting the 1900 MHz option would mean that Brazil would have to rely on EDGE and cdma2000 for 3G technologies... which must feel somewhat nauseating right now.
Tero
(PS... ruffian2000 - my holdings of Qualcomm are limited to split-adjusted four shares bought by Caxton in my name against my will. I'm still considering whether to start a tort process... "causing mental distress with malice aforethought" or something. Any lawyers from California reading this - help me out!) |
