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To: qdog who wrote (7574)	1/26/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: Spartsker	Respond to of 152472

Interesting article on global chipset 1/26/98 - California Firm Says It's Solved Mobile Phones' International Problem ENCINITAS, Calif., Jan. 25 (North County Times/KRTBN)--Take a mobile phone from America to Europe, or vice versa, and it becomes an expensive paperweight. Cellular or PCS phones made for the standards of one country or region can't operate on the different frequencies used elsewhere. But CommQuest Technologies in this North County community says it has solved that problem. It has come up with a new mobile phone chipset, the first that works on any of three frequencies in GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), a digital wireless technology used by more than 60 million customers in 110 countries. In California, GSM is used by Pacific Bell Mobile Services. In disclosing details of the new product Friday, CommQuest's president and chief executive officer, Hussein El-Ghoroury, said: "As the global society continues to evolve, people need a single wireless phone that will operate everywhere they go. Our tri-band chipset makes that possible." Chipsets are the brains of a mobile phone and determine its capabilities. Phones built with CommQuest's "WorldPhone" chipset can function, at the manufacturer's discretion, on any or all of the 900, 1800 and 1900 megahertz bands used by GSM. The technological edge could be vital to companies seeking a foothold in the mobile communications markets, which is expected to reach 500 million subscribers by the year 2000, according to Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. Mobile phone manufacturers will benefit from economies of scale, Ghoroury said, because they won't need to redesign phone circuitry for different markets. The two-chip package also lowers the cost of making the phone, he added, because more functions are placed on the chips than with existing chipsets. This means fewer parts are needed to make the phone, about 250 instead of 450, he said. As a rule of thumb, the fewer components that have to be assembled to make a device, the less chance there is of a malfunction. A mobile phone manufacturer can use the chipset to make a phone that works in one frequency or all three. The tri-mode phones will be slightly more expensive than the single-mode, Ghoroury said. "We're making this commercially available in the spring, and gearing up to have manufacturers go into production by the end of this year," said Richard Sfeir, CommQuest's director of marketing. The company's business plan is to make it less expensive for electronics companies to jump into the burgeoning mobile phone business and compete with giants such as Motorola. CommQuest sticks strictly to making chipsets and software for mobile phones and does not make the phones itself. More companies making phones translates into shorter production cycles as manufacturers race to incorporate new features. And as each iteration is designed, CommQuest intends to take its cut by offering the latest technology. The company plans to expand its digital offerings to include GSM's arch rival, Qualcomm's CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access technology, Sfeir said. Although there are only about 6 million CDMA subscribers, the number is growing rapidly as Qualcomm enters new markets. CommQuest said it expects to introduce its first CDMA products in 1999. CommQuest was founded in 1991, making satellite modems and other telecommunications equipment with a proprietary technology called CASP, (Communications Applications Specific Processor). The company is leveraging this technology into all sorts of wireless products, including set-top boxes for satellite television broadcasts. By Bradley J. Fikes -0- Visit the North County Times on the World Wide Web at nctimes.com (c) 1998, North County Times, Escondido, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. QCOM, END!A20?ES-CELLPHONE