OXFORD, United Kingdom—The likelihood of Qualcomm’s cdma2000 technology being deployed in Europe has encountered a fresh hurdle after the U.K. Radiocommunications Agency (RA) claimed that a consultation paper concerning any change of spectrum use would need to be circulated to interested government ministers.
These moves followed revelations that Qualcomm was a backer of the Inquam consortium that is reported to be looking to acquire the bankrupt Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA)-based operator Dolphin Telecom. The RA added that any organization taking over Dolphin would only be able to operate TETRA-based services and that it would be illegal to use this spectrum for cdma2000-based operations. While the failed telecom company does have rights on a secondary package of 900 MHz spectrum, the RA said that using cdma2000 currently would not be possible without prior government approval.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is also said to be watching events surrounding Dolphin with great interest and is thought to be involved in ensuring all appropriate standards and legal understanding are correctly followed.
