Public skirmishes over third-generation technology died last year when the wireless industry embraced a harmonized CDMA-based standard, but old feelings between camps die hard it seems.
The CDMA Development Group, the interest group that represents Interim Standard-95 carriers, said it is testing just how much European standards makers are willing to open their process to outsiders. The CDG is trying to gain membership as a market representation partner with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s 3G Partnership Project, a standards group ETSI established in 1998 to develop GSM-based 3G technology, primarily W-CDMA technology.
“In a way it’s kind of a press to the test,” said Jim Takach, director of advanced programs with the CDG. “Europe has indicated a willingness to open up and bring others in the process. Though 3GPP is not a European organization, it has a strong ETSI presence. In a way, we’re seeing how true to that statement these folks are.”
The GSM Association and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium are MRPs within the 3GPP. The intent of MRPs is to bring in a view of market requirements for new standards.
3GPP said it is drafting a letter asking the CDG to clarify its reason for wanting to become an MRP. The standards group hasn’t seen any evidence that the CDG wants to further W-CDMA technology based on the GSM core network, 3GPP’s primary mission, said Christopher Corbett, head of marketing and distribution with ETSI.
“This is not a refusal by 3GPP,” Corbett said. “We are open, but the 3GPP feels a need to understand what they want to bring.”
The UWCC doesn’t support W-CDMA technology, but is an MRP working to further initiatives of GPRS and EDGE technologies, both accepted International Telecommunication Union 3G standards.
The CDG said it wants to become an MRP to further the harmonization of the CDMA-based technologies, which is what the industry agreed upon last year after months of political infighting over the various standards between the GSM and CDMA communities, groups that have been long-time foes over standards.
“Granted, we as an industry group weren’t in ETSI developing UMTS for the ITU, but we believe strongly in the outcomes of the harmonization agreement and what the ITU has done,” said Takach.
The ITU has accepted a trimode CDMA standard that encompasses both W-CDMA and IS-95-based cdma2000 technologies, but some are concerned about 3GPP’s resistance to merge its standards work with its North American counterpart, 3GPP2, which is working on the cdma2000 standard. The CDG recently became the first MRP of the 3GPP2.
The Operator’s Harmonization Group, a powerful group of about 40 operators from around the world that has gained clout with the ITU in working to harmonize the standards, also endorses a merger of the two standards group. In its 3G proposal drafted in June, the group said 3GPP and 3GPP2 should consider merging into a single body no later than the end of 2000. Thirty-eight carriers and 13 vendors supported the document, saying a merger between the two would insure complete harmonization. OHG has agreed to help the merger process.
ETSI, however, has maintained in recent months that merging the two groups will slow down the standards work, and 3GPP is committed enough to collaborating with 3GPP2 to meet the requirements of a single standard.
“We have a good relationship with 3GPP2,” said Corbett. “We’re in discussion on the core network and [Internet protocol] implementation … There are more areas of commonality.”
Takach claims the relationship between the two standards groups is too informal, with no agenda to collaborate specifically on certain standards issues to promote harmonization. The two groups have worked on areas such as the hooks and extensions necessary for the two CDMA modes to operate, encryption and global subscriber identity modules, say sources close to the groups.
For the CDG’s part, it hopes 3GPP2 won’t take too long to decide on its application.
“We hope that the application process doesn’t take so long that our becoming an MRP loses its value,” said Takach. “I think there is still a history that exists between the two industries. It’s not something you can change overnight. We’ve been active in trying to work together in the past year or so.”
