L.M. Ericsson said it supports the third-generation TDMA proposal and a group of 3G CDMA technologies that accommodates three different modes and various chip rates.
The statement comes just weeks after ending the deadlock with Qualcomm Inc. over rights to CDMA-based technologies. Ericsson and Qualcomm indicated they would agree to jointly support approval by the International Telecommunication Union and regional standards bodies of a CDMA standard that encompasses the three optional modes. The two, however, did not come to terms on the hotly contested issue of chip rate and agreed to allow operators to determine those parameters.
Ericsson said in a press release issued late last week that it advocates the co-existence of two groupings of technologies: EDGE and Code Division Multiple Access. The CDMA grouping, said Ericsson, accommodates three optional modes; frequency division duplex direct-spread W-CDMA technology with a chip rate of 4.096/3.84 Megachips per second according to global operators’ harmonized proposal; multicarrier cdma2000 with a chip rate of 3.684 Mcps; and time division duplex harmonized with China’s TD-SCDMA proposal.
“This press release is designed to clarify our position on 3G. It’s nothing more than that,” said John Giere, vice president of external and public affairs. “We received a lot of questions about our position … If [carriers harmonize the chip rate] that’s great.”
Qualcomm’s Jonas Neihardt, director for government affairs, reiterated that chip-rate decisions “are based on the consensus process conducted under the auspices of the ITU.” He added that “these decisions are not in the hands of just one company.”
“Major carriers have said they are trying to achieve harmonization and parameters different than what Ericsson is saying,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group. Carriers are set to meet within weeks in Japan for another round of harmonization discussions. The ITU is waiting for input from carriers to closer align the CDMA technologies.
Ericsson said it remains committed to the evolution of GSM and TDMA technologies to the next generation as well as to W-CDMA technology as the leading global 3G standard for new spectrum with no further changes to the standard within European and Japanese standards bodies to avoid further delays.
