John, rf man: Will someone crack under the pressure and "Test" CDMA2000 or 1xEV just to cover the bases?
Albeit not Fortress Europe, I think it is worthwhile noting again the announced ERICY/Hanaro cooperation:
totaltele.com
Although we know that ERICY will sell any wireless technology that it can to improve revenues and rescue its depressed share price, nonetheless, for ERICY to reportedly ally itself with Hanaro, the lone would-be mobile operator to declare its preference for CDMA 2000, speaks volumes, imho. Its management sees risk of loss in its Asian markets: the traditional vendors, NOK and ERICY, are at risk of further losing control of their captive customers region wide. The old GSM business model may not serve them well going forward, irrespective of which upgrade path to 3G is chosen.
Does this represent ERICY management's statement of belief that CDMA 2000 offers it the best marketing strategy, in Korea, Asia? As DoCoMo's representatives continue to ratchet down their published expectations for WCDMA--in terms of deployment, speeds, throughput and functionality--we can't know for sure whether this (i) is public disinformation strategically planted by DoCoMo, (ii) represents confidential assessments by WCDMA infra suppliers to DoCoMo, (iii) reflects ongoing questions re. development of handsets/ASIC terminals or (iv) reflects some strategic positioning by NTT.
But, there is reason to believe that you are right: I'm sure the European operators are better versed in DoCoMo's problems than were are.... In May 1999, ERICY purchased Q's CDMA infra assets knowing WCDMA was to become the ETSI-3G/IMT-2000 standard for Europe. ERICY has had a full 18 months (with former Q! infra engineers, as Q! licensee, as ITU standards developer) to work with CDMA of all flavors. VOD announced early this year that ERICY will be a key infra supplier for its future network buildouts (and subject to VOD's insistence that ERICY be open to incorporating equipment from other vendors).
The lines right now are very much blurred, and much at this stage of the game is speculation. However, it is interesting to go back and read some of the messages from earlier this year when some astute members of Q!'s threads (WH) analogized all the thick FUD flying about to the period June 1998 to March 1999.
Steve |
