re: FT Times and VOD - VZ
<< Perhaps VOD could simply sell their share of Verizon and find an alternate investment in Cingular. >>
Spare me. Spare Chris Gent. Please. <g>
Meantime ... several versions of the story belwow, some abbreviated, have been talked about today. I believe this below is the full version.
The story provided Richard Sulpizio with an opening for his presentation in Cannes this morning:
"Somebody at Vodafone ... they can't roam ... that is absolutely untrue."
Backtracking through several FT stories, It looks to me like the journalist, Richard Waters, not somebody at Vodadfone, may be responsible for the assertion that:
"... their customers will not be able to roam around the world using a single handset - potentially a big problem for Verizon Wireless, which counts Vodafone, the biggest European wireless company and a user of the European technology standards, as a major shareholder."
Journalists probably have as much to do with fanning the flames of the Holy Wars as the combatants do.
I think we should cast em all adrift without a Globalstar phone.
I seriously doubt VOD will sell its stake in VZ.
My personal opinion, FWLIW, is that Verizon will proceed as planed with a 1xRTT upgrade of its nationwide net. Possibly, but only possibly, Verizon might implement islands of W=CDMA.
I have bolded a sentence in one paragraph below. I think it highlights a key issue, and that is whether or not multi-mode, multi-band handsets will provide the requisite degree of interoperability requisite for the type of data roaming that Vodafone envisions.
>> Vodafone Balks At Partner's 3G Plans: US Operator's Choice Of Mobile Network Technology Clashes With Standard Used in Europe
The Financial Times
Mar 28, 2001
Front Page
Dan Roberts
Richard Waters
A dispute over mobile phone standards has caused a rift between Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator, and Verizon, its US partner. The two are at odds over using in the US third generation technology that is incompatible with that used in Europe.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture controlled by Verizon but 45 per cent owned by Vodafone, announced plans to build a 3G network using CDMA2000 rather than the UMTS standard employed by Vodafone's other overseas networks. This could make it impossible for business travellers to use the same phone on both sides of the Atlantic. Vodafone fears it would undermine its global strategy.
It has persuaded its partner to say a final choice has yet to be made. But the dispute remains unresolved and could cause a more serious conflict if Verizon persists in its apparent preference.
One insider said a lack of agreement could force Vodafone to sell its Verizon Wireless stake, although this was described as extremely unlikely. People outside the company have suggested Vodafone could react in the same way it did with Mannesmann - another foreign partner perceived disloyal - and launch a bid for control of the company.
In a press release last week, Verizon Wireless said it would launch this year a high-speed data service based on the CDMA2000 wireless standard and "also will deploy" the full CDMA2000 3G technology because it was compatible with its existing infrastructure.
Yesterday Verizon Wireless said it might eventually opt for the UMTS standard (also known as wideband-CDMA), which Vodafone and other European carriers plan to adopt. A decision was unlikely for two or three years, it said, given the pace of technology change in the wireless industry. "Anyone that commits this far in advance is asking for trouble," it added.
Vodafone said: "International business customers are an important part of our business and we are confident that a technology will be chosen that will be in the best interests of both partners."
The problem could be solved if manufacturers produced a dual-mode handset, and it suggested a software solution was possible. However, this was disputed by UMTS specialist TTPCom, which said the two standards were too different.
Verizon's postponing a decision was seen by analysts as an attempt to appease Vodafone without abandoning its technology plans.
The US company is "making a pretty big investment (this year) and going down the road of CDMA2000", said Frank Marsalla, an analyst at ING Barings in New York. That made it highly unlikely it would switch course towards CDMA later. "Threatened by Youth", Page 23 www.ft.com/telecoms <<
>> US Carriers Look To Steal A March On European 3G Rivals: Telecoms Guru Sparks Controversy Over New Technology
Financial Times;
Mar 22, 2001
Richard Waters
Irwin Jacobs, father of the technology at the heart of third-generation wireless systems, is unapologetic about the bomb he put under the European wireless industry last month. In an interview with the Financial Times, he had warned that high-bandwidth wireless systems were unlikely to be in widespread use until 2004 or 2005.
This week, Mr Jacobs, chairman of Qualcomm, added insult to injury. Some big US wireless carriers stand a good chance of getting to 3G before their European rivals, he suggested - and at lower cost.
If he is right, then US telecoms companies could steal a march in what is expected to be a key communications technology.
Certainly, Mr Jacobs' claims are hotly contested by equipment-makers such as Nokia, whose fortunes are closely tied to the success of the European 3G standard.
These companies deny that the new high-bandwidth systems will take so long to come into widespread use, and contest the claims that their customers will be at a cost disadvantage.
Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia, yesterday repeated assurances that the Finnish company would be producing large volumes of handsets for an interim standard known as 2.5G by the fourth quarter of this year, and that full 3G networks would be launched in 2002.
However, backing Mr Jacobs' claims, two of the biggest US wireless companies this week laid out their own plans for moving to 3G.
Using a standard known as CDMA2000 - one backed by Qualcomm, and incompatible with the separate wideband-CDMA standard used in Europe and most other parts of the world - Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS claimed they could make a rapid transition to 3G without any of the upheaval that has followed the wireless auctions in Europe.
"We're going to be able to do it with the spectrum we already have, and at far lower cost," said Charles Levine, president of Sprint PCS, a division of long-distance carrier Sprint.
Rival wireless companies dispute claims by Verizon and Sprint that they will have introduced 3G technology into their networks by the end of this year.
The first phase of the shift, involving a standard known as 1xRTT that promises peak data rates of 144 kilobits per second, is more akin to the 2.5G planned by others.
The full 3G standard, with speeds of up to 2.4 megabits per second, will not come until 2003.
The cost and technology risk, however, may be smaller than that faced by other companies. Mr Levine put the cost of moving to full 3G at Dollars 2bn.
Verizon announced a Dollars 5bn contract to buy wireless equipment from Lucent earlier this week, but executives said that this included equipment for current 2G systems and that Verizon's 3G costs were likely to be similar to Sprint's.
AT&T Wireless, by contrast, is expected to spend twice as much in its own shift to 3G.
It faces a tortuous upgrade that will involve the launch of a new GSM network this year alongside its existing TDMA service, followed by a transition through both the GPRS and Edge standards before a move to full wideband-CDMA. Cingular Wireless, with both GSM and TDMA, faces a similar route, though the company's owners, SBC Communications and BellSouth, have put off a final decision.
It is a decision that comes with at least one significant handicap, however. By adopting a standard that is incompatible with most other wireless companies around the world, Verizon and Sprint have made a big bet that they can stand outside the global mainstream.
With lower volumes of handsets for their technology being produced, there will be a cost disadvantage, says Mr Levine at Sprint, though he claims that it will be small.
More importantly, their customers will not be able to roam around the world using a single handset - potentially a big problem for Verizon Wireless, which counts Vodafone, the biggest European wireless company and a user of the European technology standards, as a major shareholder.
That consideration could yet have an impact on any eventual international consolidation in the wireless business.
AT&T Wireless, with NTT DoCoMo as a big shareholder, and VoiceStream, being acquired by Deutsche Telekom, have placed their bets on following the technology lead from Japan and Europe. By opting for the CDMA2000 standard, however, Verizon and Sprint may well have made integration with a foreign carrier far harder to achieve. <<
- Eric - |
