Lucent Technologies announced three technical initiatives designed to increase capacity in TDMA equipment. The company announced a series of software enhancements developed by Bell Laboratories to increase frequency re-use; as well as new PCS Minicell growth hardware designed to provide higher capacity for traffic-intensive centers. The company proposed a new digital voice coding scheme to double voice capacity in existing spectrum.
Metawave Communications said its CDMA smart antenna system, SpotLight 2000, demonstrated a 50-percent capacity increase at a CDMA cell site in a Phoenix (U.S.) cellular network.
NEC and Siemens agreed to form a joint venture to collaborate on UMTS third-generation systems, Siemens announced in March. The planned joint venture will develop common products for the UMTS radio subsystem and combine expertise on technologies for developing both UMTS FDD and UMTS TDD modes. In addition, both companies will evaluate a wider range of cooperation such as market and sales, as well as technologies of IP-based core networks for third-generation mobile telecommunications systems, said Siemens.
Nokia and South Korean operator SK Telecom said they have agreed to work together to further develop third-generation W-CDMA technology, including the development of high-capacity W-CDMA Radio Access Network optimization technology and radio network planning and measurement tools.
Wireless Systems International said it already is developing prototype Wideband Linear Power Amplifiers for third-generation cellular systems.
GPRS
France Telecom is trialing GPRS on its Itineris GSM network using equipment from Motorola.
Ericsson has signed a contract with Dutch operator Telfort and with One-2-One in the United Kingdom to supply them each a GPRS solution.
Nokia is supplying a GPRS solution to KG Telecom in Taiwan.
