LONDON-Code Division Multiple Access technology is playing a key role in several leading technology contenders for third-generation wireless networks in Europe, but back-to-back industry shows held here last week underlined just how convoluted and contentious Europe’s standards process has become.
And while CDMA technology seems certain to invade Europe in some form, the 3G proposals being considered appear to have little in common with the Interim Standard-95, or cdmaOne, technology being deployed across the United States and gaining support as a U.S. 3G solution. Thus, next-generation wireless networks offering advanced data and multimedia applications likely will face many of the same technological hurdles that have prevented global roaming in the present generation.
The CDMA European Regional Congress and a niche show on Europe’s Universal Mobile Telecommunications System highlighted the confusion being generated by a profusion of next-generation schemes.
“The story is that there isn’t perfect alignment” among operators and vendors in Europe, stated Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group. While the United States has been widely condemned for having a gallimaufry of digital technologies rather than a single standard, Europe is similarly faced with sorting out a plethora of 3G proposals.
However, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute is determined to approve a single proposal by the end of January, a month later than originally expected. The proposal will then be submitted by the European Community to the International Telecommunications Union, a part of the United Nations that has placed itself in charge of setting worldwide standards for future wireless networks.
Tossing another acronym into the wireless alphabet soup, UMTS parties are now highly focused on UTRA, or UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access. Of the five radio access concepts being studied by ETSI’s Special Mobile Group-2, the leading contenders appear to be the L.M. Ericsson-Nokia Corp. approach for wideband CDMA and a recommendation for wideband CDMA/TDMA from Siemens AG and Alcatel Alsthom SA.
Ericsson and Siemens representatives traded cutting barbs throughout the 3G portion of the UMTS convention, challenging each other with practical technical questions and allegations that one anothers’ test results were skewed or used unlikely parameters.
All five of the proposals are flawed in some way, noted Ulrich Wellens, head of radio network development at German operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH. “All have questions and all will have solutions,” he said.
Qualcomm Inc. has not thrown its support behind any of the proposed UMTS schemes, said Ron Foerster, senior vice president of system interface at Qualcomm and the managing director for Qualcomm Europe. Speaking at the CDMA meeting, Foerster was highly complimentary of the GSM network standard and championed Qualcomm’s vision of evolving a 3G solution that is compatible with cdmaOne and hybrid GSM-cdmaOne networks.
But a cdmaOne 3G solution may not be right for Europe even though it is suitable for the United States and other parts of the world that use IS-41 networking. Andy Wilton, director of research at Motorola Inc.’s GSM Products Division, said legacy networks and their cost of migration to 3G technologies will dictate which proposals are deployed worldwide. A speaker at the UMTS meeting, Wilton said Motorola supports the Siemens hybrid proposal for GSM migration and a cdmaOne-based solution for IS-41 networks in North America and Asia.
Yet a hybrid cdmaOne-GSM network is being field tested by British cellular operator Vodafone plc in conjunction with Qualcomm. The test, using four sites in the Newbury area of the United Kingdom, combines GSM switching, CDMA base station transmission systems and QCP-1900 CDMA handsets from Qualcomm Personal Electronics that have been modified to use GSM software and subscriber identity modules. Vodafone expects to conduct public demonstrations in January showing how it has integrated the cdmaOne air interface with a GSM core network.
Ali Pourtaheri, head of communication and electronic systems at the U.K.’s PA Consulting Group, contended that “the success of CDMA in Europe depends on the success of UMTS,” which will require additional capacity and bandwidth-on-demand capabilities that CDMA appears capable of supporting. UMTS itself will succeed assuming there is a single standard that enables global roaming or multimode software radios that enable compatibility with what are likely to be divergent 3G air interfaces deployed worldwide.
Pourtaheri noted that when UMTS finally is deployed, many advanced data services already will be offered over second-generation GSM networks updated with General Packet Radio Service and High-Speed Circuit Switched Data. However, he said UMTS networks will offer significant improvements in service provision and delivery performance.
Nonetheless, Foerster said, “I’m having a hard time seeing what constitutes third generation.” He added CDMA could be implemented in several different flavors over existing GSM networks to provide 3G-like services with updated second-generation technologies.
LaForge agreed, noting that while “it’s intellectually interesting and fun to talk about the future,” there will be a blurring between what constitutes advanced second-generation and new third-generation networks.” LaForge added that internetworking between divergent systems, rather than entirely new platforms, is needed to fulfill the IMT-2000 vision of advanced services combined with global roaming.
And while industry players obsess over the 3G air interface, said Wilton, the crucial issue is how to evolve today’s wireless networks “with minimal incremental cost and a solution that will win customers.”
Based in Boulder, Colo., Tammy Parker has covered the wireless industry for 11 years.
