Proponents of Time Division Multiple Access technology quietly formed a formidable group last year, while the industry’s attention was focused on high-profile scraps between two other competing technologies.
Universal Wireless Communications L.L.C. now has 44 members, representing support for TDMA systems in Canada, South America, the Near East, Europe and Southeast Asia.
UWC will hold what it calls a global consortium Feb. 10 through Feb. 12 in Orlando, Fla. The Redmond, Wash.-based group plans to demonstrate global office service using TDMA Interim Standard 136 technology.
UWC Executive Director Leo Nikkari said global mobility can only be achieved through combining the ability of TDMA IS-136 with the network features of IS-41 Wireless Intelligent Network. An advanced Signalling System 7 is at the heart of ubiquitous roaming, UWC said.
“We want to shift from a technology debate to a business debate about volume selling and total business solutions that integrate environments. In this competitive field, if all you have is a macrocell, you’ll be killed,” Nikkari said.
World vendors have developed products based on both the IS-136 and the IS-41 standards, and wireless carriers are deploying volume commercial services based on those capabilities, UWC said.
TDMA technology supporters continue to emphasize the technology’s ability to move smoothly between in-building, microcell environments and outdoor, macrocell ones.
This has been an important strategy for the largest TDMA carrier in the United States, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. AT&T has contracted with Northern Telecom Ltd. to build microcellular systems in U.S. businesses. The systems will be integrated with Nortel’s private branch exchange systems. AT&T is hoping that in-office business users will want to continue the TDMA service in their personal lives as well, especially if they can buy one handset for in-office and out-of-office personal calls.
UWC admitted there were problems with IS-54 B when it was introduced by U.S. carriers in the early 1990s. Terminals used an 8 kilobit vocoder.
“There was network complexity. Engineering of the vocoder, tuning and the network has improved. An enhanced 8 kilobit vocoder is coming out in 1997 and there are no capacity issues with it,” Nikkari said.
