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To: brian h who wrote (7423)	1/22/1998 2:49:00 AM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Respond to of 152472

ETSI Heading For 3G Deadlock As GSM Operators Say Paris Choice Is No Choice from: totaltele.com By Jeremy Scott-Joynt 21-JAN-98 Neither of the proposals on the table for Europe's third generation (3G) mobile system fit the needs of GSM operators, the chairman of their representative has said. "We've been assessing both proposals since the indicative vote [last month in Madrid], and we feel that while both potentially could meet our requirements, neither do at the moment," said Dr. Adriana Nugter, chairman of the 256-member GSM Memorandum of Understanding Association. Dr Nugter warned that the competition between the two concepts on offer to ETSI, Europe's telecoms standards body, to become the air interface for the universal mobile telecoms system (UMTS) was cutting the chances of attaining a consensus. "The point is, this is just about the concept of a radio interface, and there's much more work needs to be done whatever gets selected," she said. "So this is not a technical decision." ETSI's members - Europe's operators, vendors and regulators - meet next week in Paris, supposedly to make their final decision between the Nokia/Ericsson 'Alpha' plan, based on wideband CDMA, or the 'Delta' TD-CDMA concept put forward by the UMTS Alliance of European vendors. "The worst case would be continued stalemate next week," Dr Nugter said, noting that the indicative vote - 58-42 in favor of the Alpha proposal - was inconclusive given the need under ETSI rules for a 71% majority. Both sides have said they can swing the vote their way. But ETSI sources said the 1200 votes cast in December out of a possible 2000 was more than double the usual turnout for an ETSI meeting - suggesting that there may not be many more votes to be found. "People who don't usually go to ETSI meetings will come even though they don't know what they are voting on," Nugter said. "It's all going to be very political." A spokeswoman for Nortel, one of the seven companies in the UMTS Alliance, said the alliance was well aware of the need for consensus. "We know there are two driving forces: to ensure upwards compatibility from GSM and of course from IS-95/CDMAOne, and to get a protocol for a single air interface," she said. The Alliance was ready to look for common ground on that basis, she said. Privately, officials from both sides of the vendor community said they were aware of the risks next week. "Time is very short," said one official from the Alliance, "and we need to all be talking about whether we can work together." Meanwhile, Dr Nugter welcomed the suggestion by NTT DoCoMo, which has worked with Nokia and Ericsson on W-CDMA, that the two camps should try to hammer out a compromise. "That's just what we've been proposing: to work together to ensure there's a proposal on the table that can get the widest acceptance worldwide." ETSI itself is well aware of the need for international, not just European, consensus. As reported in Total Telecom last week, the chair of its special mobile group, Fred Hillebrand, is currently engaged in shuttle diplomacy to try to build a common standards body between Europe, the US and the Asia- Pacific region.

To: brian h who wrote (7423)	1/22/1998 2:52:00 AM
From: Dan Ross	Respond to of 152472

Who needs the fool!!!! Do you want a reporter or a good analyst? Message 3206233 Damn I'm good <g><g>.... Unfortunately I did not purchase any....I forgot while at school....STUPID ME!!! I am, however, looking for a pullback as the markets get SLAUGHTERED tomorrow.....I might take a nibble.... what I am looking for is a pullback to 50....then movement to mid 50's for support before breaking to 62..... However, if the market goes sour, which it might, I might not nibble at all....No point in taking a falling knife to the back.... Dan Ross

To: brian h who wrote (7423)	1/22/1998 2:53:00 AM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Respond to of 152472

Greetings, Evidently QCOM has underlying rights to W-CDMA (oh big surprise<g>!) and hasn't agreed to cross license..... from: totaltele.com Caxton NTT DoCoMo Calls Truce In 3G Standards Battle By Jeremy Scott-Joynt NTT DoCoMo, the company leading Japan's effort to influence third-generation mobile technology standards, wants to talk with its main competitors to try to find common ground between its W-CDMA standard and their TD-CDMA proposal. DoCoMo, whose European allies are Ericsson and Nokia, says it is inviting the UMTS Alliance - Alcatel, Italtel, Bosch, Siemens, Motorola, Nortel and Sony Europe - to see if their two models for the 3G mobile air interface can be combined. That way, a DoCoMo spokesman said, the International Telecommunication Union's ideal of a single global standard might be realized. "We developed W-CDMA, and we're proud that the system is widely accepted among the GSM community," DoCoMo's spokesman said. "But the Alliance of Alcatel and others will continue to push their system whether they win or lose. We would like to combine the features of the two because DoCoMo is focusing on getting a single format for IMT-2000 [the ITU's name for a global 3G standard],". Of the European vendors involved, Nokia seemed at least to be receptive to the idea. "It's certainly possible to add new features to our proposal that come from the other proposal, and in both of the solutions there's CDMA," said a Nokia spokeswoman. "We think W-CDMA is the best solution, but we are participating in the discussions between all the participants in the run-up to next week's meeting." But Bosch, for the UMTS Alliance, saw technical problems. "It's a difficult task," said Gerd Ploeger, Bosch Telecom's coordinator of UMTS activities. "The W-CDMA concept is a continuous transmission, but our approach works on fixed time slots, as an evolution from GSM. It's not clear how the two could come together." The intellectual property situation was clearer with TD-CDMA as well, he said: Qualcomm held much of the rights underlying W-CDMA, and the US company had not yet guaranteed cross-licensing. But Bosch and the alliance are aware of the imperative among both operators and vendors to find a single solution, he said. "We must investigate to see if there is some features that can be combined. The main aim is to get terminals which are cheap enough for the mobile community, and that means avoiding multi-mode phones if possible." Whatever the technical challenges, DoCoMo's suggestion will be music to the ears of operators. The chairman of the GSM MoU Association, Dr Adriana Nugter, says are worried that the supposedly final vote on Europe's universal mobile telecoms system (UMTS), in Paris at the end of this month, could still prove inconclusive. "The battle is serving no constructive purpose in the search for one universal standard," she said. "We are urgently asking both parties to consider a formula for compromise." Last month the operators, vendors and regulators that make up the membership of ETSI, Europe's telecoms standards body, voted narrowly (58-42) in favor of the W-CDMA option, known as Alpha, over the Alliance's hybrid of TDMA and CDMA, called Delta. But a new standard needs 71% of votes cast to become official.