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Europe pursues 3G despite U.S. opposition
By Peter Clarke
EE Times
(01/21/99, 5:36 p.m. EDT)
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Companies in Europe are pushing forward with an effort to make inroads worldwide for
their version of a third-generation cellular-phone technology, despite a high-level political debate that flared up this
week with the United States government.
Fresh activity to bolster work on the converging European-Japanese Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System (UMTS) solution for "3G" mobile communications comes despite the passing of an end-of-year
International Telecommunications Union deadline to resolve an intellectual-property (IP) dispute that hangs over
the technology.
In the first few weeks of 1999, Ericsson signed an agreement with the People's Republic of China to promote its
version of wideband-CDMA as used within UMTS, and British Telecom began trials of UMTS. In addition,
Telecom-Modus, a joint venture between NEC Corp. and ERA Technology Ltd. (Leatherhead, England), has
officially opened.
On the political front, Martin Bangemann, the European Commissioner for telecommunications, replied this week
to complaints from senior U.S. politicians, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, saying European
politicians will not get involved in sorting out the tangled 3G web. Some said the hands-off response to U.S.
concerns about multiple, incompatible 3G standards raises the specter of a 3G-triggered trade war between the
United States and Europe.
Ongoing commercial efforts-not political statements or deadlines from standards bodies-will drive 3G forward,
said some here. "The [ITU's deadline] date has passed and nothing has happened," said Josef Hubner, vice
chairman of the UMTS Forum industry body, speaking at the Telecom-Modus inauguration. "The fact is the ITU
doesn't have much power. Standardization has moved into 3GPP, and the ITU is just a talking shop for
harmonization."
Asked if the ITU had the authority to halt the development of 3G standards based on CDMA, Jaoa da Silva, head
of the mobile unit within Directorate General XIII of the European Commission, said: "The ITU can only make
recommendations. They are not mandatory. Those recommendations may be followed by industry or not."
Ericsson's agreement with China's Ministry of the Information Industry will support the transfer of
wideband-CDMA 3G technology into what is already the world's largest market for second-generation mobile
phones. Under the terms of the agreement Ericsson will set up an R&D center in Beijing to facilitate transfer of
knowledge and drive market acceptance for 3G in China. The center is due to start operation later this year. The
agreement was signed after a high-level meeting in Stockholm, Sweden between Madam Qu Weizhi, vice minister
of the information ministry, and Sven-Christer Nilsson, chief executive officer of Ericsson.
BT, the UK's leading telephone service provider, has begun trials of UMTS services working with NEC and
Nortel Networks. Taking place at BT's research center at Martlesham Heath, England, the trials will include tests
of a mobile phone with a built-in camera and video screen. The trials are being conducted with equipment from
Telecom-Modus and use the wideband-CDMA air interface that is at the center of the IP dispute.
Late in 1998 the ITU issued a statement warning that standards based on code-division multiple access (CDMA)
might be excluded from consideration within its IMT-2000 standards setting unless assurances on intellectual
property were forthcoming from Qualcomm Inc. (San Diego) and Ericsson (Stockholm) by year's end. The ITU is
expected to discuss what happens next at a meeting Feb. 6.
On Dec. 14, the European Parliament adopted a decision requiring each European Union country to have a
scheme for 3G operator licensing in place by Jan. 1, 2000 so that UMTS services can be introduced in a
coordinated manner from Jan. 1, 2002.
On Dec. 19 a letter went out to Bangemann from U.S. Secretary of State Albright, U.S. Trade Representative
Charlene Barshefsky, Commerce Secretary William Daley and Federal Communications Commission chairman
William Kennard expressing concern over the European Union's position on 3G mobile services.
Earlier this week, Bangemann rejected claims that Europe is creating barriers to entry for other technologies, saying
that industry rather than regulatory intervention must determine the details of the standards eventually used for 3G.
Commissioner Bangemann expressed "surprise that the U.S. government seems to be asking for regulatory
intervention in an industry-led process," where the real issue seems to be industrial disputes on IP. He added: "We
would not deem it appropriate to impose backward compatibility between second- and third-generation systems,
as the U.S. seems to want, nor to impose convergence of 3G standards toward a single standard, let alone toward
a particular 3G standard, be it at EU or global level."
The requirement for backward compatibility and movement toward a single 3G standard are two conditions
Qualcomm is pressing for in return for a commitment to license its CDMA patents within ITU guidelines.
Forging ahead with commercial plans, Telecom Modus used its official launch ceremony this week to show off
third-generation radio-interface technologies it has been developing.
On display was the company's wideband-CDMA test bed, which is being used to prototype mobile terminals,
basestations and switching. Calls at up to 384 kbits/second have been made and simulated on the system.
The company, formed last year, employs 65 people and has plans to expand to more than 100. It is working only
on wideband-CDMA, despite the fact that the European UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access interface standard
includes an option for time-division duplex (TDD) communications.
"It's possible that we will extend work onto TDD in the future as we move up toward 2-Mbit/second data rates,"
said Alan Carr, Telecom Modus' technical director. "But we are not committed to TDD."
Carr did not appear worried that his company's activity was based entirely on a technology that risked being
excluded by the ITU. "I think that too much investment and technical effort has been made by the industry into
W-CDMA," he said. "These issues will be resolved sooner or later." |
