DENVER, United States-Determined to penetrate Europe with the Interim Standard-95 (IS-95) protocol, U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. announced in February its United Kingdom trial of a cdmaOne/GSM hybrid network was a success.
The announcement occurred just prior to the CDMA Development Group’s early March statement that the organization, geared at forwarding the Qualcomm-initiated cdmaOne standard, supports consolidation of CDMA technologies-including wideband CDMA (W-CDMA)-being developed for IMT-2000.
Qualcomm and U.K. cellular carrier Vodafone plc recently completed a six-month field trial demonstrating the compatibility of the IS-95 code division multiple access (CDMA) air interface with Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks.
Qualcomm said it has proven the technical feasibility of the network as well as shown it is a cost-effective solution for GSM operators planning to significantly expand the capacity features of their cellular and personal communications services wireless systems or for GSM operators planning new networks.
Convincing the world’s GSM carriers that a hybrid cdmaOne/
GSM network solution is the best way to solve their capacity problems will be a difficult step for Qualcomm, but the cdmaOne innovator is not a stranger to such tasks.
Vodafone, which backs W-CDMA for third-generation networks, has not commented officially on the test and may be more interested in using the technology in conjunction with the Globalstar satellite network, which uses cdmaOne technology as a primary communications channel. Vodafone holds an ownership stake in Globalstar L.P., which plans to launch service in 1999.
