With vendors putting their time and energy into the three main U.S. digital standards and into
developing standards for third-generation technology, there hardly seems room for commercialization of the more
obscure technologies touted years ago.
“You need volume production and vendor financing behind it,”
said Brian Cotton, senior analyst with Frost & Sullivan in Mountain View, Calif. “You need to feel good that this
technology is going to be around.”
Just as personal Air Communications Technology advanced paging
protocol never made it off the ground because of lack of commitment from carriers, analysts wonder if Personal Access
Communications System technology will follow the same route.
“There will be a highway of technologies
filled with wrecks on the side of the road,” said Larry Swasey, analyst with Allied Business Intelligence in Oyster
Bay, N.Y. “WLL and other alternatives like broadband wireless and other data and telephony offerings will come
down to who hit the marketplace at the right time.”
Backers of PACS technology, a low-tier mobility wireless
option, seem to be few these days. Large vendors began pushing the technology heavily in 1995, hoping to convince
smaller personal communications services carriers and wireless communications services licensees to adopt the
technology. Today vendors like NEC America Corp. and Siemens Stromberg-Carlson have stopped developing any
PACS products in the United States. Siemens, which initially had planned to provide financial assistance to PCS
licensees, dropped out of the PACS Providers Forum in 1997 because commercialization of PACS technology moved
too slowly and project financing proved problematic because of market conditions.
There was renewed hope for
commercialization of the technology last summer when Costa Mesa, Calif.,-based 21st Century Telesis, which holds
PCS licenses covering some 8 million pops, and Hughes Network Systems Inc. signed a contract and vendor financing
agreement to build the first commercial PACS network in the United States. But today, 21st Century’s rollout effort
remains delayed as the carrier searches for additional financing, sources say. 21st Century did not return phone calls by
RCR press time.
“We’re waiting for that critical mass launch in the U.S.,” said Kal Ganesan, assistant
vice president for wireless with Hughes Network. “No one else has endorsed it besides 21st
Century.”
Numerous local exchange carriers and wireless operators, including Pacific Bell Wireless and U S
West Inc., have tested the technology. PACS technology works, but everyone is waiting to see if 21st Century will be a
commercial success before they dedicate themselves to PACS, say the technology’s backers. GCI Communications Inc.,
an Alaskan PCS operator, initially chose PACS technology for its statewide rollout.
PACS technology is a low-tier,
low-power technology based on microcells that can readily be installed at relatively short distances from one another at
costs far below what is required for other high-power PCS technologies. The service is based on the Personal
Handyphone System pioneered in Japan and on Telcordia Technologies Inc.’s (formerly Bellcore) wireless local loop
replacement standard, or WACS. PACS technology, which has gone through rigorous testing for several years, is more
sophisticated than PHS. The technology offers a 32-kilobit voice coder, 64 kbps data transmission and various custom-
calling features.
“If PACS works well enough and creates a large enough niche to create economies of scale,
then there is a chance of the standard’s success,” said Swasey. “One simple deployment can determine a
niche for the technology.”
Analysts say carriers can deploy the technology in campus environments and
residential areas, charging low flat rates. PACS’ high data rates also will allow carriers to offer vertical
applications.
B-CDMA
Broadband Code Division Multiple Access technology-championed by InterDigital
Communications Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Alcatel Telecom in the B-CDMA Alliance-has gone through
similar growing pains. Siemens AG recently pulled away from the B-CDMA Alliance, saying it wanted to put its
resources in other areas of its business, mainly Global System for Mobile communications technology. Siemens was
the first to enter the B-CDMA Alliance in 1994.
InterDigital and the other members of the B-CDMA alliance have
worked together to generate a core product that allows each company to springboard off of and develop their own
versions for the WLL market. InterDigital calls its version TrueLink, and is the first to test B-CDMA technology in the
United States with Pioneer Holdings L.L.C. and North West Rural Electric Cooperative in Iowa. The field trial uses
PCS frequencies to serve 24 NWREC customers.
Joe Gifford, executive vice president of InterDigital, said the
system is providing voice service at 32 kilobits and data services at 28.8 kbps. “We’re now in discussions for the
next phase to roll out 2,000 additional subscribers,” said Gifford. “There is a phenomenal opportunity for
businesses using WLL in the U.S. that want to bypass local incumbents … For some of the outlying areas like Iowa and
Kansas, B-CDMA has a good advantage.
“If we are able to expand upon the market opportunities that CLECs
offer us and others as a way to get around local exchanges, we will be successful.”
InterDigital’s hopes to
ramp up commercial production of TrueLink in 1998 were dashed as international economies began to fall, said
Gifford. As a result, it is focusing more heavily in the U.S. market.
“Unfortunately, a lot of things went
wrong, including the Asian financial crisis. There’s been a lot of challenges there,” said Gifford.
And B-
CDMA technology will live on in mobile 3G systems. Parts of the technology lie in the WP-CDMA standard-the
combined W-CDMA and WIMS standard-that lies with the International Telecommunication Union. InterDigital also
entered into a long-term agreement with Nokia to develop 3G products designed for high data applications, such as
Internet access. B-CDMA technology will play a role in the development, said InterDigital.
