Flashback: December 1998 (The Virtual Holy Wars)
While variations of CDMA will be the enabling radio transmission technology for Global 3G (G3G) there were some tense moments in late 1998 when CDMA almost wasn't an ITU sanctioned 3G technology enabler. Peter Clarke chronicles the ITU action.
>> ITU Warns CDMA Could Be Thrown Out of 3G
Peter Clarke
EE Times
December 8, 1998
eetimes.com
GENEVA — The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United Nations agency based here, has warned that code division multiple access (CDMA) radio proposals for its IMT-2000 third-generation mobile communications standard could be thrown out unless a stalemate on intellectual-property rights is resolved by the end of this month.
In a statement, the ITU said it was concerned that a "virtual holy war" could break out and kill the prospect of third-generation mobile communications that provide consumers with access to information services across networks, frontiers and technologies.
The ITU said the stalemate concerns Qualcomm and Ericsson, which both claim intellectual-property rights on technologies in a number of CDMA radio-interface proposals before the ITU, including CDMA2000, favored by Qualcomm, and the Wideband-CDMA proposal, favored by the regional standard-setting bodies in Europe and Japan.
The ITU issued its statement despite recent remarks from Irwin Jacobs, chief executive officer and founder of Qualcomm, who had said he sees hope for a reconciliation between his company and overseas rivals on the question of 3G intellectual property.
According to the ITU, discussions held in November by its Task Group 8/1 indicated that if the stalemate continued the ITU would be able to consider only air-interface proposals based on time-division multiple-access (TDMA) technology, the technology used for most second-generation mobile phones.
"To conform with ITU patent policy," said Robert Jones, director of the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau, "the holder of any known patent or any patent-pending application related to any proposal made to the ITU in the process of international standards-setting must submit a written statement, either waiving his rights or commiting to negotiate licenses on a non-discriminatory basis and on reasonable terms and conditions. Failure to provide this statement ultimately excludes the proposal from the international standards-setting process."
In its statement the ITU said that while Qualcomm was prepared to grant licenses on its essential IP contained within CDMA2000, on most other CDMA proposals Qualcomm was not willing to negotiate licenses with other parties on a non-discriminatory basis on reasonable terms and conditions. The statement went on to list conditions it had received from Qualcomm.
In November, Qualcomm's Jacobs said his company would offer "fair and equitable" access to its technology while at the same time petitioning the ITU to develop "a converged standard."
The ITU characterized Ericsson's position as being that the company was prepared to license its IP but on a condition of reciprocity, and that the company favored an approach where each country or territory was free to select from alternative air-interface standards.
The ITU said it had asked both Ericsson and Qualcomm for detailed information on the claimed essential IPRs and that the information was needed very urgently to allow the IMT-2000 standard-setting procedure to continue.
The ITU now has 10 terrestrial and six satellite radio-interface proposals before it and the ITU is trying to reduce the number of terrestrial radio interfaces to a minimum by the end of next March.
At its November meeting, the Task Group 8/1 agreed that all 16 proposals qualified for the next phase and agreed on a draft list of additional frequency bands to provide additional spectrum for IMT-2000. <<
- Eric -
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