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To: Jon Koplik who wrote (27455)	4/19/1999 2:26:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Q, News> April 19, 1999 CDMA entrance into Europe may be at 450 MHz By Lynnette Luna If there is any hope second-generation Code Division Multiple Access technology will penetrate Europe, it may be through some struggling Nordic Mobile Telephone 450 MHz operators. The NMT MOU group, consisting of NMT 450 operators from Europe and Asia, wants members to vote at its October meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, to choose digital standards. CDMA, Global System for Mobile communications and Digital-NMT technologies are among the candidates for digital systems that operators likely will deploy commercially in 2001. In many Western European countries, NMT 450 operators are struggling to add customers, and some have abandoned their licenses altogether as customers prefer the features of digital GSM 900 and 1800 services. Subscriber growth is fairing better in Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, where subscriber growth increased 111 percent from December 1997 to December 1998 for Mobikom. Growth in Asia has been slow as well. ‘‘One of the reasons for the decline in subscriber bases is because the competition from digital provides more services supported by several vendors,'' said Vera Kripilani, senior director with Qualcomm Inc., a member of the specification group working to standardize CDMA technology within the NMT MOU. ‘‘Moving to digital will make these operators competitive, and it would allow them to get more capacity from their frequency spectrum.'' Jim O'Connor, secretary of the NMT MOU Digital Interest group and executive director of engineering and operations for Media One International, said the drive to digital also stems from the high handset subsidies carriers must incur to offer service. The cost for analog infrastructure is not competitive and network quality pales in comparison to GSM networks. Though the majority of NMT 450 operators also own a GSM 900 license and likely a GSM 1800 license, many analysts believe they will migrate their NMT 450 networks to GSM technology as well to leverage economies of scale. GSM technology is the mandated standard in Europe for mobile phone networks. Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson said they support the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's work on a global standard for GSM in the 450 MHz band. ETSI recently accepted that plan as a work item. However, O'Connor believes CDMA technology has a fighting chance in Europe. ‘‘CDMA has a shot for this market,'' he said. ‘‘Part of the attractiveness of 450 is that it is a different product. It has to be marketed differently [than GSM service]. You have to have something else on the shelf so you can get more subscribers.'' Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Hughes Network Systems Inc. are trying to standardize CDMA technology under the auspices of the NMT MOU rather than going through ETSI, the European standard's body—which some U.S. manufacturers have accused of locking second-generation CDMA technology out of Europe. Radio Design, a Swedish-based company, also is working to standardize the D-NMT standard, a standard similar to D-AMPS in the United States, under the NMT MOU. This technology would allow operators to take analog channels out and replace them with digital channels without changing the channel scheme. ‘‘Qualcomm is not going to standardize this through ETSI, and I think we have a process where that is acceptable,'' said O'Connor. ‘‘The MOU itself has maintained the analog specification because we wanted to make the NMT world easier to handle.'' CDMA wireless local loop networks operating in parts of Europe, as well as the Proximity network Ionica is operating in the United Kingdom, have not needed ETSI approval either, said O'Connor. Qualcomm is pushing two versions of CDMA technology—one based on GSM-MAP and the other on ANSI-41. O'Connor said most operators are interested in the standard based on GSM-MAP, derived from Qualcomm's CDMA/GSM hybrid network it tested in conjunction with U.K. cellular carrier Vodafone plc last year. The field trial demonstrated the compatibility of the Interim Standard-95 CDMA air interface with GSM networks. The NMT MOU has asked ETSI to give Qualcomm permission to reference ETSI GSM specifications. Qualcomm, however, cannot make the infrastructure since it sold its vendor unit to Ericsson late last month. It's unclear if Ericsson is interested in the concept. ‘‘The uncertainty around the Qualcomm infrastructure will have to be resolved before people continue to think about CDMA,'' said O'Connor. ‘‘Ericsson is very much in the cdmaOne business, and they have been the key provider for NMT operators,'' said Kripilani. ‘‘We assume they would have interest.'' It's unlikely NMT MOU members will choose only one standard, since each technology has benefits for different operators, said O'Connor. For instance, D-NMT and CDMA technologies allow for dual-mode handsets for analog roaming, while the GSM specification has not included this feature. However, NMT 450 customers could roam on existing GSM 900 networks. At any rate, O'Connor believes migrating to digital will revitalize the NMT 450 market. NMT 450 networks generally have stronger geographical coverage than their GSM network counterparts. This coverage will become valuable once operators introduce third-generation services. ‘‘Spectrum is spectrum, and 450 has some excellent characteristics,'' said O'Connor. ‘‘Some smart people will go out and do some greenfield applications. When 3G comes along, and a new player needs countrywide coverage, why not do 450? If the spectrum is available, it's going to get used.''