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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kech who wrote (32653)	2/19/2003 5:06:41 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 196546

Cellular firms offer interim solution Surjeet Das Gupta, Thomas K Thomas in New Delhi Published : February 20, 2003 business-standard.com Cellular service providers have proposed a compromise formula to avoid breakdown in peace talks with basic operators. They have offered to accept wireless in local loop (WLL) limited mobility services till the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal takes a decision on the issue. Cellular service firms had earlier shot down a proposal allowing fixed line operators to provide fully mobile services after paying an entry fee. However, the cellular operators have urged the government to plug loopholes in the licence agreement to ensure that WLL operators restrict the mobility to a local calling area. They have also said the licence terms for limited mobility services should restrict roaming and short messaging services (SMS) and make the use of V 5.2 interface, which limits the coverage area of the service provider, mandatory. Cellular service providers have pointed out that some WLL limited mobile operators use loopholes in the licence agreement to offer virtually full mobile services. They have also questioned the legality of limited mobile services in court, and the matter is pending before the telecom dispute tribunal. Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutchison and a key member of the committee, says: “We are prepared to consider an interim concession, whereby the government should stick to its policy on limited mobility services.” A committee comprising cellular as well as basic service operators was recently set up under the aegis of the department of telecommunications to resolve disputes between the warring groups. However, basic service operators are not too keen for a compromise. S C Khanna, secretary-general, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators, said, “We will study the offer, but it is clear that text messaging and call forwarding services are part of our licence terms and there is no question of us withdrawing these facilities.” Tata Teleservices, one of the key parties to the ongoing negotiations, has, however, said it will not offer messaging services till the government gives its legal approval. Top cellular operators point out that an earlier comprise formula, which envisaged allowing basic service operators to convert their limited mobile licences into fully mobile licences, is beset with problems. Says a cellular operator, who is part of the negotiating team: “The migration formula is a separate story. It will require reconciliation of commercial damages. We will follow the law of the land and the laid down statutes, including the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act. If there is need and time for more operators, everybody should be allowed to bid for it. There should not be any automatic migration.”

To: kech who wrote (32653)	2/19/2003 5:44:55 PM
From: kech	Respond to of 196546

Wi-Fi alternative looks promising in test markets Cost may deter more widspread use (Seybold probably was talking about these Verizon trials not Nextwave) Christopher Stern, Washington Post Monday, January 27, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whippany, N.J. -- Inside a white van decked out with computer screens on the back of each seat, two Lucent Technologies technicians put their company's new wireless data network through its paces. As the van rolls around a parking lot, one techie taps at a keyboard, and the screens jump from one Web site to another. Even the pages full of connection-clogging photos and graphics pop up at a speed rivaling any desktop computer tethered to the Internet by a cable or a telephone line. For a grand finale, one of the technicians tunes into CNBC via the Internet. A dial-up connection would produce herky-jerky pictures and tinny sounds, but here the financial news channel comes in loud and clear. The technology, known as EvDO (Evolution Data Only), provides wireless data connections that are 10 times as fast as a regular modem. Proponents say EvDO offers huge advantages over WiFi, another wireless data technology that's popping up around the country in hotel lobbies and coffee shops. They say it might even be the long-sought path around local telephone and cable companies' lock on the high-speed Internet market in most residential areas. After learning some hard lessons in the last few years, though, the U.S. wireless industry is skittish about investing heavily in anything that doesn't have immediate promise of improving its bottom line. EvDO would require wireless companies to spend billions on additional spectrum and new software for every cell tower in their networks. The industry is still smarting from the failure of other once-promising wireless technologies: In Europe, 3G (third generation) technologies were supposed to turn cell phones into mini-entertainment centers, but reality failed to live up to the hype. Despite the expense and concerns about demand for EvDO, it's already gaining a toehold in other countries and some small U.S. cities. It's been widely rolled out in South Korea. Monet Mobile Networks Inc., a company based in Kirkland, Wash., opened EvDO networks last October in seven Midwestern markets, including Sioux City, Iowa, and Grand Forks, N.D. In addition to being far faster than WiFi, EvDO can work over existing cell phone networks and deliver a connection anywhere there's a mobile phone signal. In contrast, WiFi users must be within 300 feet or so of a base station or hot spot. Verizon Wireless executives say they were impressed by EvDO in market tests using Lucent's technology in the Washington area. Nortel Networks Ltd. equipment is also being tested in San Diego. Bill Stone, Verizon Wireless executive director of network planning, said EvDO may prove to be a breakthrough for the entire wireless industry. He likens EvDO's potential to energize the mobile communications business to the introduction of the cell phone in the 1980s and its subsequent surge in popularity in the 1990s, when mobile phones moved from analog to digital technology. "This could jump-start the industry all over again," Stone said. A takeoff of EvDO would not only provide Verizon with a new high-speed Internet service to market, but it would probably help struggling equipment suppliers such as Lucent and Nortel, which have already developed the software and hardware for the network. Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and other cell phone makers would benefit from the introduction of new products capable of high- speed Internet access. A U.S. launch of EvDO would also be a boon to Qualcomm Inc., which controls many of the patents underlying the technology. The growing interest in EvDO adds to the momentum of Qualcomm's CDMA (code division multiple access) used by some of the largest wireless companies, including Verizon and Sprint Corp. Other companies are likely to migrate to CDMA in part because it uses spectrum more efficiently than rival wireless standards and opens the door to high-speed data technologies such as EvDO, according to Coleman Bazelon, a vice president at AnalysisGroup/Economics, a research firm in Boston. One of the biggest barriers to EvDO is that it requires wireless companies to set aside a slice of their valuable airwaves just to transmit data. Because mobile phone companies barely have enough room to handle their voice traffic, EvDO is likely to remain on the back burner until the firms can acquire more spectrum. sfgate.com