PARIS-AT&T Wireless Services told a conference in Paris that it is currently seeing no demand for W-CDMA-based service in the United States, and the carrier could take four or five years to look at the technology.
“We don’t see anything in the market driving demand for wideband-CDMA,” said Leo Nikkari, director of 3G industry relations for AT&T Wireless. “I don’t see anything pushing us to an early W-CDMA launch.”
Nikkari added that the carrier is moving ahead with plans to upgrade its network to EDGE technology next year and will stay with that technology until it sees increased demand for higher-speed services. If that demand does arise, AT&T Wireless would first launch W-CDMA in its largest markets like New York and Los Angeles.
