re: EDGE coming soon ...
>> On The EDGE Of 3G Success
15th April, 2002
3G Newsletter
EDGE, which had been out on a limb with no particular home or carriers supporting it, has suddenly become " A Real Contender" for some carriers even though those promoting CDMA may feel no threat; maybe they should look again.
Last week both AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, and in particular Mr L Nikkari, Head Of 3G Relations at AT&T acknowledged and supported EDGE as a real potential world-wide standard for migration from GSM and GPRS.
In fact, it could be that EDGE is ideally suited for all GSM bands (850, 900, 1880 and 1900) and would place it firmly in the faces of GSM operators throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. In addition, what if it were to appear in North America in some not too distant future?
Major North American Carriers may decide to use EDGE for crowded urban cities and towns and rely on GPRS for less crowded areas. Indeed, the EDGE Operators Forum predicts that 90% of operators throughout the world will adopt either WCDMA or EDGE. Given the opportunity, EDGE will need to sort out a number of bugs via Wafer Fab manufacturers.
The aim is to have EDGE handsets available by the 4th quarter 0f 2002, with Tri Band phones ready early in 2003. This is when you could expect a showdown between in the CDMA 1X corner and the EDGE corner and it is likely that data transmission speeds will be equal or similar. However, EDGE needs to make a quick impact with US users before the arrival of CDMA 1X EV-DO which will allow much quicker speeds and consistency particularly when the mobile user is on the move.
The next 10 months will be fascinating in many ways but this one is going to be a close call. <<
- Eric - |
