MOSCOW—Russian authorities proposed restricted CDMA technology based on the IS-95 standard to follow the AMPS/DAMPS carriers and move to the GSM 1800 MHz technology by 2010.
The U.S.-developed IS-95 has faced big problems in Russia since it was first introduced in the country. It was initially restricted in mobility and then ordered to abandon the 470 MHz to 872 MHz band altogether. That spectrum is to be used by a television technology in 2010.
U.S.-developed AMPS/DAMPS technology was also ordered to abandon its spectrum, but in contrast to IS-95, it compromised with the Communications Ministry and is gradually moving to the 1800 MHz band.
Now Deputy Anti-Monopoly Minister Anatoly Golomzin proposed that IS-95 carriers should also be licensed to operate the GSM 1800 MHz technology. He voiced the proposal at a meeting of the leadership of the Communications Ministry that summed up the 2001 results.
Communications Minister Leonid Reiman sounded compromising in response. “Definitely, we have to search for ways to develop the companies that have to close down their networks. CDMA carriers have not contacted us with applications for licenses. But we are open for a dialogue,” he said.
The news that CDMA carriers may be offered the 1800 MHz band was first voiced by Deputy Communications Minister Yuri Pavlenko at the Norwecom 2002 fair. However, in his words, it sounded like an already decided matter. Pavlenko said a corresponding agreement with the CDMA Association had been reached at the end of 2001, and 16 CDMA carriers have been already licensed to operate GSM 1800 MHz technology.
The CDMA Association immediately denied the claim. “Such information does not correspond to reality. No CDMA carrier has filed an application for a GSM 1800 MHz license, and no carrier has received it,” it said, adding that members of the association decided at a meeting in February “to support the course aimed at a further development of CDMA technology and confirmed the necessity to develop the networks in the traditional frequency bands envisaged by the International Telecommunication Union.”
Earlier, the Association had called on the ministry “to consider the possibility of using frequencies in the 800/1900 MHz bands and to provide an additional frequency spectrum of 2 x 1.25 megahertz, including that released by AMPS/DAMPS carriers.”
