Slacker, Re: GSM1x / VOD, etc and “I see the chances of VOD having widespread GSM 1x launches as just about zero. “
How about “narrowspread”? (gg). And, thanks for sharing your insight.
What 3G technology will VOD be using in the rural areas inasmuch as VOD has apparently dismissed EDGE?
It was my understanding that deploying WCDMA anywhere other than the densely populated areas was just to expensive a proposition. Has not the various governments demanded that the rural areas also have 3G?
Therefore, is it your belief that VOD will also deploy WCDMA in the rural areas (which would be very beneficial to the Q also)?
I view VOD’s comments re: EDGE as very positive as it appears to limit their 3G choices to only CDMA based technologies. It appears that VOD was not specifically questioned on GSM1x, right? And, would you not agree that even if they were considering GSM1x for the rural areas, they probably would not announce such a decision (or even a consideration of such ) until much later in the decision making process so not as to tip off the competition or cause a stir amongst the regulators?
And, there is also the possibility of using CDMA450 with dual mode handsets for the rural areas.
It would sure be nice to know the economics of all the alternatives.
FYI, some news clips on GSM1x / VOD along with some “interesting” quotes from Dr. IMJ-
1. Reuters
Verizon Wireless delays world phone introduction
Thursday December 11, 9:56 am ET
biz.yahoo.com
snip>>>
The joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - News) and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc (London:VOD.L - News) had said earlier this year that it would launch the so-called world phone, made by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KSE:005930.KS - News) by the end of this year.
2. Herald Tribune-
To:Ruffian who wrote (132373)
From: Hepps
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003 4:51 AM
Respond to of 132374
Write up in Monday's International Herald Tribune... (no link_)
Snips>>>>
"We think probably that phone will be used by China Unicom, Vodafone and Telefónica now that they have CDMA properties," Jacobs said in an interview in October, "but I think ultimately it will be used by just about all high-end people who tend to roam, and then it will go into the mid-tier."
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The Samsung phone, whose existence Frediani discovered on the Internet only last week, "addresses almost all of my concerns," he said. More important, the phone gives him hope.
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"I told a mechanical engineer friend of mine, 'Just wait for this phone to come out, and then wait for the competition to come in,'" Frediani said. "If this market has any resonance at all, there will be competitors and price pressure."
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Jacobs agrees.
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"It doesn't add much cost to the phone at all because the digital part is mostly done in the digital signal processing," he said. "You need a little more memory in the phone to handle the GSM/GPRS technology. The size will be the same, basically. Battery life? No difference, because you're either using one or the other, not both simultaneously."
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He added: "Radio frequencies are a little bit more complicated, but now we are providing multiband technology. And we built a chip that has the right bandwidth for GSM/GPRS, as well as W-CDMA, as well as CDMA2000. It's not a dream by any means. The phone manufacturers initially will probably get a significant premium. But very quickly I think it's going to be a very small cost add-on."
3. IDG News Service London
To:Ramsey Su who started this subject
From: brational
Sunday, Jul 27, 2003 10:48 PM
View Replies (1) | Respond to of 36241
MOT phone with MSFT software and QCOM dual mode chip for Vodaphone/Verizon
Microsoft, Motorola stay mum on phone deal
By Scarlet Pruitt
IDG News Service, London Bureau
28-07-2003
idg.com.sg.
4. China daily
China- Dual-mode phones likely to find niche
Author: LI WEITAO,China Business Weekly staff
www1.chinadaily.com.cn
Snips>>>>
In another development, China Unicom has confirmed it is expecting to launch dual-mode GSM/CDMA service in mid-2004.
The carrier is in talks with Motorola, Samsung and LG for purchase of 300,000-500,000 of the required phones.
Unicom Chairman Wang Jianzhou said an average GSM/CDMA phone would probably cost 15-20 per cent more than average CDMA handsets.
Unicom statistics show that the company had 72 million GSM subscribers at the end of November.
That is near the limits of the capacity of its GSM networks.
As Unicom is striving to make its nascent CDMA networks profitable, analysts expect it will not expand its GSM network capacity very significantly.
"As it will involve the cost of replacing existing GSM phones, the question is, how big is the subscriber base for GSM/CDMA service? And will the handset vendors have the stimulus to tie up resources in such phones?" Zhang pointed out. (Zhang Ying, an analyst with telecoms consulting firm Analysis Consulting.
Subscribers to Unicom's GSM service are generally low-end users as it charges less than China Mobile's GSM service, as a result of a government-set charging system designed to support the weaker Unicom.
Wang Guoping, a telecoms analyst with China Galaxy Securities, said the dual-mode GSM/CDMA service would be "a good way out" for Unicom's GSM networks.
"It would help Unicom protect its GSM users from being taken away by China Mobile," he told China Business Weekly.
"There is an exodus of Unicom's GSM users, as the coverage of Unicom's GSM networks is inferior to that of China Mobile's GSM/GPRS networks."
Zhang expects Unicom will offer generous subsidies to kick-start the dual-mode GSM/CDMA market as it did to foster its CDMA service.
From another article Dr. IMJ was quoted with-
economictimes.indiatimes.com.
>>>>>>>>snip
“Talking about new handsets that would have both GSM/CDMA chips, Jacobs said they would hit the market next month, made by Samsung. He said these dual-mode, multi-frequency handsets will take a couple of years to be available at the entry level (price points).” |
