Getting into the holiday spirit, Nextel Communications Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. provided gift-wrapped updates on the technology upgrades for their respective networks, as well as time frames and what the industry should expect once the changes are complete.
After previously announcing plans to forego an anticipated overlay of its network with CDMA technology, Nextel, along with technology partner Motorola Inc., announced a number of upgrades that were designed to “extend the efficiency, differentiation and longevity of Nextel’s iDEN-based network.”
“By strategically investing in the iDEN platform, we’re able to provide an excellent wireless experience for our customers while generating a better return on our investment,” said Paul Saleh, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nextel.
Nextel and Motorola said they were on track to introduce a more spectrally efficient voice coder on Nextel’s network beginning next year that eventually would double network capacity without a loss of sound quality. The companies also reiterated and demonstrated plans to provide a nationwide reach for its Direct Connect service, which today can be used only in a customer’s calling region.
Saleh said the voice coder upgrade, which will be introduced into handsets by the third quarter of next year, would provide the spectral benefits of next-generation technologies being launched by other carriers without the added cost of installing a new network. Saleh also noted that customers were telling Nextel its current packet-data network was sufficient for their wireless data needs.
“The reason for 3G is voice capacity,” Saleh said. “Current data models don’t make sense.”
Nextel also provided a demonstration of its planned nationwide Direct Connect service by placing a call between its engineering headquarters in Virginia and a Florida iDEN manufacturing plant. The coast-to-coast Nationwide Direct Connect service initially should be rolled out in Nextel’s New York and Boston markets with full availability scheduled for the middle of next year. The carrier said it is still working on pricing models.
In response to speculation that a number of CDMA-based operators were expected to launch competing push-to-talk services some time next year, Nextel said it believes its iDEN-based service’s less than one-second call latency would prove superior to the expected five- to 10-second delay of similar CDMA services. Nextel noted a CDMA-based offering would likely only be able to match its latency in its proposed EV-DV incarnation, which it said is still years away from development.
Nextel also said it is working with Motorola and Qualcomm Inc. on deploying Direct Connect interoperability with CDMA networks worldwide. The partnership is part of an agreement the companies signed giving Qualcomm the right to market its QChat push-to-talk service internationally in exchange for not competing in the North American market with Nextel’s Direct Connect service.
Nextel hinted the interoperability work could lead to CDMA users as far away as China being able to Direct Connect Nextel customers in the States.
Nextel and Motorola also announced a number of other enhancements including the recent deployment of 900 MHz iDEN handsets on Nextel’s network, a push-to-talk service that works off-line, a push-to-view service allowing customers to see who they are speaking with and prototypes of new iDEN handsets based on Motorola’s next-generation Falcon platform.
Beyond the technology topic, Nextel also reported it is expecting the federal government to rule in its favor on its proposed spectrum swap plan within the next three to four months, even though staunch criticism still remains from many of its wireless competitors.
“They didn’t complain when they got the spectrum in the beginning, or when AMPS was retired or when Auction 35 was retired,” Saleh said.
Saleh said Nextel’s biggest concern is that the proposed $500 million it planned to use to help pay for the spectrum swap would not be enough and that it would not approve a deal that is open-ended financially.
One of the companies opposed to Nextel’s spectrum swap deal is Cingular, which also provided an update on the progress on the GSM voice and GPRS data overlays on its network as well as information on testing EDGE technology on its network.
Cingular said it has already deployed GSM/GPRS over more than 50 percent of its potential subscriber base nationwide and that it expects to have 90 percent coverage by the end of next year including all of its major markets. Full network coverage is scheduled for all of Cingular’s markets by mid-2004.
The GSM/GPRS coverage includes the roughly 30 percent of Cingular’s network that was already GSM from BellSouth Corp. when the company was formed.
Ed Reynolds, president of network operations at Cingular, said the upgraded markets also include a number of 850 MHz GSM installations and that the carrier is setting aside about 30 percent of the available spectrum in overlaid TDMA markets to launch GSM and GPRS services. That percentage would be increased as the carrier sells through its TDMA handset inventory and begins to transition more customers to GSM services.
Cingular also noted it offers more than 20 different GSM handsets, including six different handsets that operate in both the 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz spectrum bands, and said it would introduce several more by early next year.
A search of Cingular’s Web site by RCR Wireless News showed that the GSM handsets are only available in its former BellSouth markets, where it has previously offered GSM services and not in its recently converted markets.
Cingular said it has deployed GPRS data services in a number of major markets in New York, California, Connecticut, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Rhode Island, central Florida, coastal Georgia as well as in Detroit, Indianapolis and Philadelphia.
In addition to its technology overlay, Cingular said it was installing Adaptive Multi-Rate speech channels designed to allow the operator to carry more channels per base station and ultimately double network voice capacity.
Cingular also announced it is beginning to test EDGE capabilities on its network, noting it is installing EDGE-enabled base stations during the overlay and upgrading its already installed and EDGE-ready GSM sites. The testing is expected to use early EDGE devices including Nokia Corp.’s recently introduced handset with market launches scheduled to begin next year and all of its major markets EDGE-ready by the end of the year.
“We are doing standard software testing on the network beginning this month with early release devices,” Reynolds said. “We expect to have an initial market launch in the first half of next year.” RCR
