Ericsson Update>
ate: Ericsson offers change for 3G
mobile comms
By Peter Clarke
EE Times
(12/09/98, 1:55 p.m. EDT)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — In the latest development in a flurry of
positioning on third-generation (3G) mobile-communication standardization,
Ericsson has proposed a change to wideband code-division multiple access
(WCDMA) proposals for the 3G radio interface. Ericsson claims a reduction
of the chip rate will allow complete harmonization of the terrestrial radio
proposals up for consideration by the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU). That harmonization would extend to the CDMA2000 proposal
backed by Qualcomm Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), Ericsson said, though other
differences would remain between WCDMA and CDMA2000 proposals.
Ericsson's offer comes only 24 hours after the ITU had warned that all
CDMA proposals could be dumped from the 3G standards-setting process
unless a stalemate on intellectual property rights was resolved by Ericsson
and Qualcomm before the end of this year. The ITU is due to select a
minimum number of radio-interface standards for its IMT-2000 3G mobile
communications standard by the end of March 1999.
The announcement also came during the first-ever 3G Project Partnership
(3GPP) meeting, which was held Dec. 7 and 8 in Sophia Antipolis, France.
The 3GPP project, formed by regional standard-setting bodies ARIB and
TTC of Japan, T1 (ANSI) of the U.S., TTA of Korea and ETSI of Europe,
is attempting to demonstrate rapid harmonization of their respective
WCDMA proposals to enable the rollout of the first 3G systems by 2001.
Ericsson's latest initiative is based on a reduction of the so-called chip rate of
the WCDMA radio proposals from the present 4.096 Mchips per second to
3.840 Mchips/s.
The chip rate is a metric of how data is transmitted within spread-spectrum
CDMA communications, with a "chip" defined as the binary element of a
CDMA coding sequence.
The company said that the adoption of a lower rate would harmonize the
WDCMA and CDMA2000 systems making it possible for manufacturers to
produce low-cost, dual-mode mobile phones and terminals to serve users
across the two system standards. The Ericsson proposal would allow
operators to migrate to 3G mobile communications independent of their
current technologies, the company said.
"We are very optimistic that our proposal meets with all requirements for
harmonized 3G standards for users of GSM, TDMA IS-136, cdmaOne and
PDC equally well," said Ake Persson, vice president for marketing and sales
of Ericsson Mobile Systems.
"Our solution bridges WCDMA and cdma2000 technologies and lays the
foundation for harmonized world standards. This approach would offer equal
access to global terminal market volumes and also facilitate global roaming,
yet minimize the inevitable reduction of system performance that comes with
a lower chip rate."
However, Ian Channing, an industry observer and author of telecom
newsletters in the U.K., noted that in the past Ericsson had said a reduction
in chip rate would degrade WCDMA performance. "This is what Ericsson
has always refused to do. They had claimed that a reduction of the chip rate
would hurt 3G," he said. "Given their historical opposition to a reduction in
chip rate, this is a major change of stance by Ericsson," Channing said.
"The 3G opportunity is here and now," Ericsson's Persson said. "We see
operators moving forward rapidly to take advantage of the business
opportunity afforded by future mobile technology. The adoption of our
proposal by the global mobile industry would ensure that there are no delays
in delivering these services to hundreds of millions of users around the
world."
"To achieve the goals of timely 3G standards that are available on equal
terms for all operators and users calls for hard work and a spirit of
compromise," Persson said. "At Ericsson, we believe that all members of the
global mobile industry must now come together in support of these efforts to
make next-generation mobile technology happen. We are confident that our
proposal to reduce the chip rate of WCDMA will contribute to this process."
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