DENVER, United States—Nothing demonstrates that the sun will eventually set on TDMA technology as strongly as the decision by its supreme advocates, the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC), to dissolve its operations.
“We have accomplished our objectives,” said Chris Pearson, executive vice president of the defunct organization.
Although the organization would not admit it, analysts think the decision to dissolve itself is directly related to the founding of a new advocacy group, which is still unnamed, which will cater to TDMA technology as well as GSM, Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) and wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) standards, a technology path that assures the eventual disappearance of TDMA. The technology, like analog, is expected to be around for at least a decade.
Pearson said the organization has succeeded in popularizing the technology, which has had deep footholds in the Americas and was pitched as a stronger product than CDMA IS-95, because of its widespread footprint.
The analysts’ views about the connection between UWCC and the new association were strengthened by the decision of the yet unnamed association to be based in the U.S. city of Seattle, where UWCC was headquartered. Some of UWCC’s key players will be on the board of the new association, according Pearson. No specific announcements have been made.
UWCC’s spokeswoman Vicki Livingston traced the idea for the new association to U.S. operator AT&T Wireless’ decision in the fourth quarter of 2000 on its technology migratory path along TDMA, GSM, EDGE and W-CDMA lines. She said this crystallized the necessity for a single organization to cater to businesses committed to that path. Pearson, however, said the decision to close UWCC was made in the third quarter of 2001 and was not related to the founding of the unnamed association.
The new association will announce its name in the coming weeks. The association will concentrate on the Americas, unlike UWCC, which had a worldwide focus, although most of its activities were in the Americas.
Some TDMA carriers in Latin America are yet to announce their technology paths, although most of them are expected to follow the path of AT&T, while the prospect of a cdma2000 overlay has remained tempting because of the unpredictable pitfalls and the timeline of the alternative route.
“The new association will offer a home for a lot of UWCC initiatives,” said Pearson, explaining that all TDMA interests will enjoy the protection it deserves from the unnamed body.
A source said the new association will not overlap with the GSM Association, adding that it will be business-led, while the GSM Association is more concerned with standards.
