Harmonized Agreement>
ebruary 22, 1999
U.S., European execs agree on harmonized
3G CDMA framework
By Jeffrey Silva
WASHINGTON—In potentially a major breakthrough in the gridlocked
third generation mobile phone controversy, U.S. and European wireless
executives here last week agreed to pursue a framework for an umbrella
Code Division Multiple Access standard that combines common elements of
competing CDMA technologies and gives operators the ability to choose
from three different CDMA modes.
The modular CDMA harmonization approach was proposed by Roland
Mahler, executive vice president of new business at DeTeMobil Deutsche
Telekom MobilNet GmbH, at the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue forum
last Wednesday.
The TABD gathering was a follow-up to one in Charlotte, N.C., last
November.
The Mahler plan could help salvage a global wireless standards process that
at times has been on the verge of implosion. A 3G CDMA compromise also
could help avert a U.S.-European Union trade war over mobile phones.
Unlike past meetings where confrontations have erupted among warring 3G
wireless parties, last week's TABD conference was described as positive
and upbeat.
The three modes in the Mahler proposal include one resembling the
European wideband CDMA standard championed by Sweden's L.M.
Ericsson and Finland's Nokia Corp.; a multicarrier mode resembling the
cdma2000 technology promoted by Qualcomm Inc.; and a time-division
duplex mode for unpaired spectrum.
The new plan could pave the way for a smooth migration to 3G for existing
CDMA carriers as well as for carriers in the United States and abroad that
deploy wireless systems based on Global System for Mobile communications
technology.
The tough part will be translating the Mahler CDMA harmonization concept
into technical specifications within the International Telecommunication
Union standardization process.
There is another big obstacle, too: The one standard, three-mode CDMA
proposal does not resolve hotly contested differences between Ericsson and
Qualcomm on chip rates and intellectual property rights.
While calling last week's TABD developments very positive, William
Plummer, Nokia's vice president of U.S. government relations cautioned:
‘‘We're a long way from a CDMA umbrella standard.''
The ITU is approaching a March 31 deadline to settle on what many
observers predict will be a family of 3G standards that could include a
harmonized CDMA standard and a 3G Time Division Multiple Access
standard.
There was support at the TABD meeting, according to participants, to move
forward and stick to that deadline. The meeting was not open to the press.
A joint communique being finalized on Friday was expected to include
language supporting multiple 3G standards. There was an effort to have the
communique stress that patent disputes and politics—including saber rattling
by U.S. officials over EU trade policy that discriminates against
American-developed CDMA technology—be kept out of the ITU
standardization process.
Several members of the Senate have urged U.S. trade representative
Charlene Barshefsky to include the CDMA technology lock-out in Europe in
an upcoming trade report on hot spots that may require tough U.S.
responses.
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