OTTAWA-Nortel Networks Ltd. and Qualcomm Inc. announced the successful test of an UMTS voice and data call across commercial cell sites using live 1.9 GHz radio spectrum, Qualcomm chipsets in commercial-form-factor handsets and a live, end-to-end 3GPP UMTS network from Nortel.
The test is significant for the North American market where carriers currently offer service in the 1.9 GHz spectrum bands and the government has yet to allocate spectrum in the 2.1 GHz bands where UMTS services are expected to be rolled out internationally.
The two companies also announced the successful completion of an UMTS to GSM handoff call in a lab environment in support of operators that will have both second generation and third generation technology on their networks.
