Lucent Tech To Manufacture Cdma Equipment

Lucent Technologies the erstwhile telecom equipment manufacturing arm of AT&T plans to manufacture code division multiple access (CDMA) technology equipment that will operate in the 1,800 MHz spectrum. It does not have immediate plans to make equipment in the 900 MHz spectrum. The US vendor is the market leader in CDMA systems, having sold 26 of the 57 systems in the world.

The announcement, made yesterday by Lucent vice-president (marketing for wireless network systems) Scott Erickson, is seen as a direct attempt to enter telecom markets which operate wireless communication services mostly, using GSM (groupe special mobile), a digital European standard or its variations on this frequency. South Korea, Australia and China have reserved the 1,800 MHz band for wireless communications services.

 

CDMA is a modulation technique that has been used in satellite communication services since the 1970s. It has been designed to suit personal wireless communication services in recent years and works out to be 40-50 per cent cheaper than other systems like AMPS (advanced mobile phone service) and GSM due to better capacity, better coverage and low power losses.

Lucents 1,800 MHz CDMA equipment is expected to be ready by end-1997. This will give network operators a choice of technologies in this frequency (1,800 MHz). Carriers around the world have told us they want a choice of technologies in this part of the spectrum and moving CDMA to 1,800 MHz will give them that choice, Erickson told newspersons here.

The announcement by Lucent, that CDMA equipment for the 1,800 MHz band is under development, follows an announcement on Wednesday by the CDMA Development Group (CDG) a grouping of 75 CDMA equipment vendors and service providers that it was working on specifications to include CDMA equipment operating in the 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz into IS-95, a standard for CDMA equipment accepted by US Telecommunications Industries Association (TIA).