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To: Michael who wrote (31809)	6/5/1999 6:23:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Strong Cdma Push> Strong industry push for CDMA system in Asia Mobile-phone makers and operators hope to end rivalry between standards South China Morning Post Hong Kong's mobile-phone standards generally are lumped into one of two camps - PCS (personal communications system) and GSM (global systems for mobile). A small number of subscribers use alternate standards, such as Hongkong Telecom's TDMA (time division multiple access) network and Hutchsion Telecom's CDMA (code division multiple access) system, both of which offer rock-bottom tariffs without the comprehensive service options available to PCS and GSM. Now, the CDMA Development Group (CDG), a 100-member group of operators and telecommunications equipment vendors, is trying to make inroads in Asia with the US-developed CDMA standard, as the regional telecommunications markets opens and next-generation applications attract interest. Group representatives in Asia include Nortel Networks, [ Motorola ] , Lucent Technologies, Qualcomm and Hutchison Telecom. "We are not pro-CDMA or pro-GSM," said Desmond Cheung, Hutchison senior manager of radio network CDMA. He said group member companies had investments in both mobile technologies. Most of Europe, Southeast Asia, and parts of the US - comprising about half of all mobile-phone users - use GSM. But CDMA has drawn more attention in Asia since the mainland approved its use in China Unicom's wireless network. Some industry estimates put the value of CDMA contracts in the mainland at about US$1 billion as Unicom looks to expand its capacity to 10 million lines by next year. Large CDMA networks also were being deployed in North Korea and Japan, said David Ho, Nortel Networks senior vice-president of wireless for greater China. The group hopes to get the standard adopted in countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines as they recover from recession. "CDMA does offer distinct advantages," said Paul Calcott, Lucent's Asia-Pacific marketing and strategy director for wireless networks. Apart from having double the system capacity of GSM networks, it is being touted as having a relatively simple upgrade path for the third generation of handset applications that include Internet access, full-motion colour video and CD-quality sound. Hutchison has yet to finalise an upgrade timetable for Xin Gan Xian - Hong Kong's sole CDMA network - because the Government will not award licences for next-generation networks until 2001. However, rival operator SmarTone Communications plans to launch a 3G-enabled, wideband CDMA network by 2002. The industry group declined to speculate on the number of CDMA networks Hong Kong eventually might host, but members said talks were underway with several operators. Xin Gan Xian was described as the network for "cheapskates" by one magazine, and is unlikely to gain wide acceptance among business users in the near term, due to its limited roaming coverage that does not cover the mainland. Hutchison would put a priority on setting up roaming arrangements across the border, Mr Cheung said. One noticeable absentee from the group is Sweden's Ericsson - a large supplier of CDMA equipment. The group initially provided fire power for Qualcomm's battle for wide acceptance of its CDMA 2000 standard, which previously was at odds with Ericsson's wideband CDMA technology, which was incompatible . The battle ended earlier this year when Ericsson bought Qualcomm's wireless infrastructure division, and vowed to make the CDMA standards compatible. Ericsson initially came up short in complying with a requirement for group membership - a commitment to undertake commercial projects for CDMA. However, an agreement appears to have been reached and Ericsson was expected to be admitted soon, group director for Asia, Terry Yuen, said. (Copyright 1999) _____via IntellX_____ Publication Date: June 04, 1999 P