3G technologies
Published: March 25 2001 20:14GMT | Last Updated: March 25 2001 20:17GMT
Congratulations Qualcomm, proud owner of a third generation mobile licence in Australia. Observers may wonder what the US mobile technology company is doing setting up as an operator alongside Telstra and Vodafone. But Qualcomm is determined to prove that its own version of 3G technology - CDMA 2000 - is superior to the UMTS standard favoured in Europe and Japan. Australia will be its showroom.
Qualcomm claims that CDMA 2000 is much cheaper for operators with existing 2G CDMA networks to install, can exploit more spectrum, and will beat UMTS to market. Given the common technology architecture, this need not be farfetched. However, there are economies of scale in handsets and network infrastructure, and operators are keen to avoid the balkanisation of technology which isolated the US in 2G. Unless Qualcomm is able to prove CDMA 2000's superiority soon, UMTS will be unstoppable. Watch Verizon Wireless. With its existing CDMA network it is a natural candidate for CDMA 2000, but it is also 45 per cent owned by Vodafone, which is adopting UMTS worldwide. At present Verizon is in Qualcomm's camp, though a final decision has not been made. If Verizon Wireless does adopt CDMA 2000 it would wreck Vodafone's plan to create a seamless global mobile network. Dual mode handsets might finesse the problem, but no-one knows when, if ever, they will be produced cost-effectively. With common technology, Deutsche Telekom/Voice-Stream and NTT DoCoMo/AT&T Wireless could sweep up the global business market.
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