GENEVA-The International Telecommunication Union group responsible for signaling requirements and protocols agreed July 2 on a second set of Bearer Independent Call Control protocols, which will, among other features, facilitate third-generation wireless communications.The BICC protocols, which Study Group 11 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization...
Explaining logic behind 3GSMDear Editor: Regarding the opinion article "Happy Families" in the May-June 2001 issue, no one should leave Stuart Sharrock "disturbed" for too long. However, I would like to offer some constructive feedback.The fear of obfuscation at the 3GSM World Congress I believe...
As they launch their enhanced data networks, carriers are also planning for the third generation (3G).Carriers that choose cdma2000 have direct paths to 3G because there are no interim overlays and no new networks to build. The first evolutionary phase, cdma2000 1X, is a...
GENEVA-With just a few months to go until the next ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-2000) on 8 May-2 June in Istanbul, Turkey, tensions are already running high as rival national delegations jostle to secure a bigger slice of the radio frequency spectrum to support...
The talk throughout 2000 centered on third-generation (3G) technology-its high costs, functionality, risks and mostly its promise. But 3G has different meanings in different circles. Because 3G is something that is not yet officially tangible, a concrete definition is not easy to come by.The...
HONG KONG-"Third-generation services are here," proclaimed the advertisements from Qualcomm at International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom Asia 2000. "The wait is over." Korea's SK Telecom was the first operator to deploycdma2000, noted Terry Yen, Asia Pacific director of the CDMA Development Group. SK Telecom...
HONG KONG-"This time it's for real," stated Robert Mao, president of Nortel Networks China.But Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Qualcomm, was rather more sanguine. "I've gone from being cautiously optimistic," said Jacobs, "to optimistic."The CDMA Development Group (CDG) fielded representatives from Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Nortel...
WASHINGTON-The 3rd Generation Partnership Project announced new working relationships with the International Telecommunication Union and the Internet Engineering Task Force, which 3GPP hopes will strengthen the groups' ties.Under the new relationships, the ITU will be able to participate in 3GPP leadership meetings. In addition,...
Seven companies set up a TD-SCDMA Technical Forum in Beijing. TD-SCDMA is a third-generation (3G) mobile-phone standard developed by the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT) and Siemens. The seven companies that set up the forum are China Mobile, China Unicom, Datang, Huawei, Motorola,...
MONTREAL-The International Telecommunication Union established guidelines for streamlining its procedures, which will "reduce time-to-market delivery of standards needed to meet the fast-changing needs of the industry and of the market," the international standards-setting body said. The 135-year-old organization has been looking to reform to...
BEIJING-China's telecom circles are hotly debating whether the country's own standard for third-generation (3G) mobile communications-Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA)-will be the goose with the golden eggs, allowing it to claw back precious terrain from foreign equipment suppliers.Still, the Chinese are...
HONG KONG-The government of Hong Kong is likely to be among the first in the Asia-Pacific region to clear spectrum and issue licenses for third-generation (3G) mobile phones, according to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA)."While the USA and Europe may take five...
WASHINGTON-As the World Radiocommunication Conference opens today in Turkey, trade and spectrum issues governing third-generation mobile-phone technology remain heavily mired in controversies that are likely to play out in coming months as competition for the multibillion dollar global wireless market heats up.On one front,...
GENEVA-Despite the best efforts of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi, the reform process designed to drag the 135-year-old telecommunications standardization body into the 21st century has once again bogged down. Delegates to the Working Group on ITU Reform's (WGR) April meeting...
GENEVA-As WRC-2000 delegates prepare to pack their bags and head off for four grueling weeks of debates and technical deliberations in Istanbul, Turkey, Europe's Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) lobby is gearing up for a battle to secure the right to additional third-generation (3G)...
ISTANBUL, Turkey-The International Telecommunication Union said its member countries have reached a treaty agreement for changes to international allocations of radio-frequency spectrum and all associated regulatory provisions.The treaty is scheduled to be announced at the World Radiocommunications Conference 2000, May 8 to June 2...
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-Jim Murrell, chairman of the North American GSM Association, could not use his Global System for Mobile communications phone last week in Brazil during Telecom Americas 2000. But depending on a decision by the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory agency later this month,...
Integrating satellite communication technology with the Internet became somewhat of a theme among mobile satellite services carriers last week, following a Datacomm Research Co. report suggesting satellite voice services aren't all they're cracked up to be.Globalstar L.P., traditionally a satellite voice carrier, publicly tested...
American wireless firms and the U.S. government are cautiously optimistic about a move the European Commission plans to make to open Europe to competing third-generation wireless standards.The EC early this month plans to officially ask the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to standardize all technologies-including...
The Operators Harmonization Group-which began work more than a year ago as a loosely tied consortium of four operators trying to end the global debate over third-generation technology standards-is now an official organization.Earlier this month, 26 operators from around the world approved an international...
GENEVA-A 26-member Reform Advisory Panel, comprised of ministers and other senior government officials, industry heads, regulators and operators, met in Geneva to agree on key principles that should guide the reform of the International Telecommunication Union.The panel made broad recommendations for changes ranging from...
Unified Communication Services ConferenceMarch 20-22International Business Communications Inc. Orlando, Fla. (508) 481-6400.Trillium's IP Telephony and 3G Wireless Technical SeminarMarch 22Trillium Digital Systems Inc. Santa Clara, Calif. (310) 442-9222 ext. 1104.The 24th International Wireless Communications ExpoMarch 22-24Primedia Co. Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas. (800)...
CTIA Wireless 2000February 28-March 1Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans. (202) 785-2842.Strategic Cellular and Wireless Communications SeminarMarch 2-3Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd. Hotel InterContinental, New Orleans. (301) 589-2259.Billing Challenges in the Age of Converged NetworksMarch 6Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions....
