SBC Communications Inc. said it will convert the remaining Ameritech Corp. wireless properties it owns from Code Division Multiple Access technology to Time Division Multiple Access technology.
SBC and Ameritech merged last year and sold 20 Ameritech cdmaOne wireless properties, including Chicago and St. Louis, to GTE Corp. to comply with spectrum cap rules. Analysts since have wondered whether TDMA operator SBC, which also owns Global System for Mobile communications operator Pacific Bell Wireless, would pursue a wireless strategy with three separate technologies.
It’s clearer today, however, that TDMA and GSM technologies are on the path to merge, as the two have the same third-generation technology migration path and carriers and manufacturers are working on ways to interoperate the two technologies.
Rollout plans for TDMA markets in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin will be on a market-by-market basis, said Gregory Williams, vice president of wireless systems with SBC Technology Resources Inc.
“While CDMA technology was deployed, it wasn’t ubiquitous, and all customers weren’t converted,” said Williams. “The impact on customers will be positive since many did not have digital phones, and will be getting them with the new TDMA rollout.”
