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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gdichaz who wrote (5897)	1/31/2000 10:05:00 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 13582

Chaz, << Seems like the Q folks should know that there is a CDMA smart card "standard" (?) in process. Did I read that correctly - i.e. that the format is for all technologies GSM, TDMA and CDMA? >> Yes. In progress. Moving swiftly. Although CDMA will be the last technology to adopt a SIM option (R-UIM) it appears that they are moving towards it. This is a strict requirement for China Unicom as I understand it (see Qualcomm's Epstein's quote at th end of this post). Terry Yen, Asia Pacific program director and leader of the international roaming team for the CDMA Development Group (CDG) is instrumental in this initiative and as I understand it has been pushing for this for some time. He supposedly has beenn quoted recently about the need for a SIM to satisfy China Unicom who like NTT DoCoMo have insisted on a SIM from day one in their implementatioms of cdma. You and I have discussed the smart card SIM and its potential use in CDMA on several occasions. My primary interest in SIMs is the potential for its use in CDMA. The lack of a SIM in that technology is one factor that has prevented its adoption in, or interoperability with the predominant wireless technology in the world, GSM. This is barrier to a potential revenue stream for Qualcomm, a company that is one of my core investments. In addition the role of the SIM has important ramifications as a facilitator of wireless data services, and this potentially has many additional investment implications, beyond Qualcomm. At the heart of the matter is the fact that in order to authenticate to a GSM network a SIM is required. This is why Qualcomm incorporated a SIM into their handset in the Vodaphone Newbury trials. Beyond authentication is the issue of global roaming and interoperability (and roaming agreements, and numbering plans, Ouch!). The good news is that CDG has started to take these issues seriously. I have posted a long and boring post on this topic of the adoption of a SIM here: Message 12734357 I've posted a series of posts to myself on the general subject of SIM cards on that thread so if you trace the links back from this post you will wind up knowing about all I know (and more than you probably want to know <g> about SIM cards. In addition I have links below to some good articles in "Wireless Week" and "CDMA Spectrum": INTEROPERABILITY, ROAMING PUSHED AT GSM CONGRESS wirelessweek.com "Establishing inter-standard roaming between GSM and other networks is another issue characterizing this event, Healy says. In addition to the association's agreements with the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium to establish interoperability between GSM and TDMA networks, the association also is working with other industry groups at this event, such as CTIA and the CDMA Development Group, to advance that cause. Both international roaming and inter-standard roaming will propel the Association toward the GSM Global Roaming Forum, launching after the event." HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE? CDMA Spectrum Article March 1999 by Harriet Meyers cdg.org "Not yet, but for cdmaOne roaming, times are changing. Competition from other technologies, growing demand-especially from visitors to the US-and technology breakthroughs mean that more and more cdmaOne carriers now feel they must embrace international roaming." "During the next five to seven years, we will see this market change tremendously," says Terry Yen, Asia Pacific program director and leader of the international roaming team for the CDMA Development Group (CDG). "Not only high-end users, but many well-informed consumers will demand the ability to have total access-even when they are on holiday." LET'S TALK ABOUT IT From the October 1999 issue of CDMA Spectrum: cdg.org "Some, such as Qualcomm's Epstein feel the influence of China, still a sleeping giant with regards to 3G wireless, will eventually bring together the dueling CDMA modes. Operator China United Telecommunications (China Unicom), which launched its cdmaOne network in 1998, is already pushing for GSM/CDMA dual-mode handsets and integration of a user identity module, akin to the GSM SIM card, for cdmaOne terminals" Best to you, - Eric -