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To: Ramus who wrote (17447)	10/30/1998 3:30:00 PM
From: tero kuittinen	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Gregg - W-CDMA was specifically designed to be the upgrade of GSM. The basic design was aimed to provide operators with a new standard that can be seamlessly incorporated with existing GSM networks. No, I don't know the technical details, but it should be obvious that W-CDMA will be the first choice for existing GSM operators, not CDMA2000. Just how much do Qualcomm and Lucent know about GSM infrastructure anyway? Who do you think the GSM operators trust with 3G: Nokia and Ericsson, or some American companies with zero or minimal GSM expertise? Operators tend to be very conservative and trust their established contractors. In a couple of years there will be 500 million GSM subscribers, this base will be the most important market for 3G networks. As far as I know W-CDMA phones will have GSM incorporated into them so they will operate anywhere GSM works, so the initially narrow W-CDMA network footprint will not prevent the phones from working in 100 countries. What can Qualcomm or Lucent offer CDMA2000 customers? IS-95 compatibility? That's much narrower than GSM and leaves huge holes in Europe, China and other GSM areas. Houston, Houston, do you read... Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia are building their W-CDMA phones on Symbian operating system. This means W-CDMA will have a universally accepted OS endorsed by major electronics companies like Toshiba at its core. They will have the software support that only a truly global standard can muster. I don't know where CDMA2000 handset makers stand, but obviously they are behind... either they will be forced to license Symbian from Nokia and company or they will come up with some narrow, Macintosh-type niche standard of their own. Most internet sites will probably primarily support the dominant standard. Can't wait to see Nokia start collecting licensing fees from CDMA companies! Tero