Sprint Telecommunications Venture-which plans to operate next-generation mobile phone service across much of the nation-is keeping to its cable roots by selecting Code Division Multiple Access technology as the foundation for its network.
The Sprint-cable TV consortium last month announced it would use CDMA technology for its personal communications services system. On news that Sprint was in final negotiations with CDMA equipment manufacturers, CDMA developer Qualcomm Inc. saw its stock jump about $6. The stock was trading at about $42.25 on Aug. 2. San Diego-based Qualcomm-CDMA’s most adamant proponent-licenses the technology and intends to be a significant manufacturer as well.
A CDMA choice by Sprint could mean that CDMA technology would cover 45 to 50 percent of the PCS markets, according to Molly Foerster, Qualcomm’s director of investor relations. PCS PrimeCo L.P., the consortium of Bell Atlantic Corp., Nynex Corp., U S West Inc. and AirTouch Communications Inc., also recently chose to deploy CDMA technology in its PCS network.
The Sprint-cable group’s multibillion dollar plans for PCS build-out gives the venture terrific leverage in the final negotiations underway with equipment vendors, said telecommunications analyst Richard Siber of Andersen Consulting in Boston.
Sprint Telecommunications Venture said it wants to begin offering service in its 29 PCS markets by November 1996. “We have concluded to this point that CDMA, more than any other technology, provides the best long-term solution for a seamless, wireless network,” said Ronald LeMay, the venture’s chief executive officer.
“But if we don’t strike an (equipment manufacturing) agreement now, we reserve the right to explore other technologies,” noted Sprint spokesman Mark Bonavia. Other possible PCS technologies include Time Division Multiple Access and Global System for Mobile communications, both currently available.
Since CDMA is a newer technology not yet deployed commercially on a large scale and PCS operators are in a race to market, the pressure is on the infrastructure manufacturers to meet build-out demands, said Siber.
Large CDMA vendors believed to be courting Sprint include Motorola Inc., AT&T Corp. and Northern Telecom Ltd. Sprint said it plans to select more than one vendor.
Wireless analyst John Ledahl of Dataquest Inc. said Sprint chose CDMA technology in order to keep the venture partnership together. The PCS consortium is owned 40 percent by Sprint and 60 percent collectively by three cable TV companies-30 percent by Tele-Communications Inc., and 15 percent each by Cox Cable Communications and Comcast Corp.
The consortium intends to use cable infrastructure to provide local phone service, part of the venture’s package of wireless, video and telephony services. CDMA is most compatible with cable technology, said Bruce Crair, vice president and general manager of Cox California PCS. Cox is alpha testing CDMA PCS in San Diego, where it has a large fiber-coaxial cable system.
“CDMA is inherently more cable friendly, more compatible with the cable plant. There are more efficiencies,” Crair said.
Cable infrastructure can provide the backhaul for a PCS system. Wireless phone signals go to a Remote Antenna Driver that contains a microcell integrator. The RAD is hooked into the cable plant. The signal is pulled into the RAD, converted from 1.9 GHz PCS frequency to cable frequency (5 to 40 MHz), amplified, then sent up the cable, which sends it to base stations and on to its destination.
If the Sprint consortium doesn’t ultimately select CDMA, there could be changes in the partnership, Dataquest’s Ledahl said. “Sprint is multicultural and multi-aimed. In choosing CDMA, Sprint has listened to its cable partners and kept the partnership viable,” Ledahl said.
Still, Ledahl predicts CDMA won’t meet the timelines laid out by manufacturers and operators. “CDMA can take a little longer to prove itself and go through all the tweaking and debugging. It (the CDMA choice) will definitely slow down time to market, but that was part of the equation,” Ledahl said. Andersen Consulting’s Siber agreed, noting CDMA may have more operator support on paper, but it still has to endure a commercial roll-out.
