DENVER, United States-SBC Communications said it will convert the remaining Ameritech wireless properties it owns from CDMA technology to TDMA technology.
SBC and Ameritech merged last year and sold 20 Ameritech cdmaOne wireless properties in the United States, including Chicago and St. Louis, to GTE Corp. to comply with federal spectrum cap rules.
Analysts since have wondered whether TDMA operator SBC, which also owns GSM 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 for the two technologies to interoperate.
Rollout plans for TDMA markets in the states of 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.”
