Time Trippin’: Qualcomm, Nokia commence chip battle; Wi-Fi all the rage … 11 years ago this week

Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from this week in history. Enjoy the ride!
Qualcomm counters Nokia-backed chip initiative
Barely a week after Nokia Corp. announced an initiative with Texas Instruments Inc. and STMicroelectronics, Qualcomm Inc. has seized the spotlight with a series of chip announcements, drawing attention to itself as a premier player in the space. The announcements include a W-CDMA chipset that supports high-speed downlink packet access software, an end-to-end cdma2000 1xEV-DV revision D chipset, an entry-level cdma2000 1x chipset and a single chip solution that integrates application processors and modem processors. … Read More
Nokia-backed effort aims to chip away at Qualcomm market
Following a trend by wireless players to chip away at Qualcomm Inc.’s stranglehold on the CDMA market, Nokia Corp., Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics announced a joint development program to offer chipsets for cdma2000 1x and 1xEV-DV. This announcement comes in the wake of Samsung Electronics’ hint that it plans to make its own chipsets, as well aggressive efforts by Chinese vendors to pursue TD-SCDMA. The joint decision also underlines new markets opening for the technology in Eastern Europe and Asia on the 450 MHz band. A smaller company, Magnolia Broadband, also rolled out a dual antenna chip known as DiversityPlus, which allows receive and transmit, whereas Qualcomm’s product offers only receive. … Read More
Tropos Networks unveils technology for Wi-Fi ‘hot zones’
Tropos Networks Inc., formerly operating in stealth mode as FHP Wireless Inc., has unveiled its new Tropos technology, products and services to enable metro-scale deployments of Wi-Fi technology, offering end users wireless broadband access to data from wide public areas. Tropos’ goal is to take traditional Wi-Fi from its typical limited deployment in a home, office or hot spot and expand it to a larger scale, creating “hot zones” that cover entire neighborhoods or cities. … Read More
Carrier execs outline plans at analyst conference
Top execs from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Nextel Communications Inc. made appearances at this week’s Lehman Brothers conference in New York to discuss their current and future business plans and financial performances. Verizon Wireless’ Chief Executive Officer Denny Strigl attributed the No. 1 carrier’s success to its business model of providing strong fundamentals via disciplined execution to see consistent results. He also attributed the carrier’s consistent results to its focus on a quality customer base, which according to Strigl, goes hand in hand with profitability growth. … Read More
Wi-Fi roaming steps into the spotlight
Wi-Fi roaming is garnering more attention this week as more companies announce settlement solutions in the space and a new report points to the importance of hot spot roaming. Interoute said it launched a European roaming exchange service for 802.11 wireless and mobile service providers. The Interoute roaming exchange allows providers to increase the number of wireless locations that subscribers can use to gain access to their networks. Interoute’s offering includes embedded authentication, billing and settlement facilities. … Read More
It’s not always easy at the top Nokia’s CDMA efforts seem to fall short with Verizon, Sprint PCS
Although GSM proponent Nokia Corp. continues to profess plans to improve its CDMA phone sales, the company’s efforts to date in the United States seem relatively unimpressive. Of the two major CDMA carriers in the United States-Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS-only Sprint sells Nokia phones. And so far Sprint is only selling one low-end, voice-only Nokia model, the 3585i. Nokia’s CDMA situation in the United States comes several months after Nokia showcased five new CDMA phones at the CTIA Wireless trade show earlier this year. Nokia introduced its lower-end 2270, 2280 and 2285 CDMA 1xRTT phones, as well as the color-screen, Java-capable 3586i and the advanced 6585. … Read More
McCaw legacy lives on in today’s wireless start-ups, mainstays
Wireless pioneer Craig McCaw assembled an all-star executive team to start and drive McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. in the 1980s and early 1990s. And though McCaw sold the business in 1994 for almost $12 billion to what it now AT&T Wireless Services Inc., many from that all-star squad have remained in wireless-creating a close network of executives that spans from one side of the industry to the other. … Read More
Carriers can lease spectrum to others
The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that allow wireless carriers to lease spectrum they are not using to other companies, a move heralded by the wireless community. “The spectrum-leasing policies adopted are a landmark step in the [FCC’s] evolution toward greater reliance on the marketplace to expand the scope of available wireless services and devices. These policies will lead to more efficient and dynamic use of the important spectrum resources to the ultimate benefit of consumers throughout the country,” said the commission. … Read More
Carriers upgrade sites to gain call quality
As the wireless industry comes of age, upgrades are necessary to keep existing, legacy infrastructure in working order and compatible with emerging wireless communications technologies. Those upgrades and enhancements start with the very foundation of wireless communication, wireless tower sites. Physical tower upgrades occur mainly for structural reinforcement, so a tower can support more carriers’ equipment, making it capable of enabling communications for more wireless consumers. But carriers are finding it increasingly necessary to upgrade aging backhaul networks that lie beneath the ground at cell sites. … Read More
FCC touts plan to make 5 GHz spectrum available for unlicensed uses
The Federal Communications Commission proposed last Thursday to make 255 megahertz in the 5 GHz band available for unlicensed devices. The FCC praised the proposal, which suggests that devices built to use this spectrum deploy dynamic frequency selection to avoid government systems. The proposed rules have been expected since earlier this year when the FCC, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense reached agreement on use of the 5 GHz band for unlicensed devices. … Read More
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