TELECOMS
Wireless code holds the
key to prosperity
ANH-THU PHAN
High-profile wrangling over which wireless telephone
network standards will be deployed on the mainland has
recently put the spotlight on Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA).
Though a minority of today's mobile-phone users make
their calls on networks using the technology developed
by United States-based Qualcomm, CDMA forms the
basis for all of the third-generation wireless networks
being considered by the world's providers.
At stake are contracts worth billions of dollars for
suppliers such as Qualcomm, Lucent, Nokia, Ericcson,
Nortel and the mainland's own Datang Telecom.
While debates continue over whether CDMA2000, or
WCDMA (for wideband) or other flavours of the
standard will prevail, Qualcomm competitor Nortel has
taken an agnostic approach, announcing CDMA2000
trials with Telstra in Australia and W-CDMA trials with
BT Cellnet in Britain.
The company is also working on technologies which will
smooth the interconnection of all the CDMA variations
under development, according to Herman Pon, the chief
technology officer for Nortel's wireless division.
While it is fairly clear Europe will go with WCDMA and
the US will deploy CDMA2000, Mr Pon expects Asian
markets such as the mainland, Hong Kong, Korea and
Japan to be a battleground of sorts, with some countries
deploying both systems.
In Hong Kong, Nortel customer Sunday is testing an
interim technology called general packet radio service
(GPRS) and should be able to launch services by the
end of the year.
GPRS, which boosts network speeds from the current
9.6 kilobits per second (kbps) to as much as 150kbps,
will be a way for network operators to experiment with
developing data services.
They can be continued once third-generation networks
come online, Mr Pon said. CDMA technologies
probably could be pushed to several megabits per
second, or the equivalent of some high-speed land-line
technologies such as digital subscriber line, Mr Pon said.
"In a mobile environment, where you are moving around
in a car, it could deliver several hundred kilobits."
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