ORLANDO, Florida, United States—Following on a meeting of operators and vendors with an interest in Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology at the 3GSM World Congress in France last month, the EDGE Operators Forum officially formed and met in Orlando in March at CTIA’s Wireless 2002 conference and exhibition. The forum, composed of six mobile operators in the Americas and five main vendors initially, will have a strong North American focus, forum officials said.
The group is offering a timeframe for initial dual-band EDGE services of year-end 2002, with volume EDGE equipment and tri-band services for the Americas in 2003. “We’re not a new group, but working with current industry groups,” said Leo Nikkari, director of third-generation (3G) industry relations with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and an executive in the forum.
Operators that have formally announced EDGE plans include U.S. carriers AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless. In addition, Canada’s Rogers AT&T Wireless, Mexico’s Telcel and BTC Mobility of Bermuda have announced EDGE rollout plans. Vendors Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel and Siemens also have committed to EDGE equipment for the 2002-2003 timeline.
The group plans to continue its closed, invitation-only meetings throughout 2002 in locations around the world from Rome to Singapore, with representation from regulators as well as operators and vendors, Nikkari said.
The group has strong support from the GSM Association and the GSM Suppliers Association (GSA), said Alan Hadden, GSA president. Hadden said last month that many European operators, which have been expected to skip EDGE technology in their migration paths to W-CDMA networks, are once again considering EDGE rollouts in conjunction with UMTS rollouts.
Motorola said at a press conference at the 3GSM World Congress in February that it has no plans to manufacture EDGE handsets. However, Motorola sponsored the EDGE meeting in Florida last month and now has indicated it is planning to release EDGE handsets and infrastructure in line with the EDGE Operators Forum time scales, Nikkari said.
Jim Murrell, chairman of GSM North America, predicted there will be at least one commercial EDGE service by the end of 2002. Murrell is also vice president of business development for VoiceStream.
In March, the Universal Wireless Communication Consortium (UWCC) evolved into 3G Americas, a new trade organization representing GSM, TDMA, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS carriers and vendors in the Americas. 3G Americas is expected to overlap the GSM Association in several areas, but it has said it will not be as focused on standards. 3G Americas and the EDGE Operators Forum likely will overlap in some areas as well.
Nikkari served as vice president of strategy and industry relations with the UWCC.
GW
