New Standard To Expand Cellphone Market

IS-95 BASED SYSTEMS TO RIVAL GSM TECHNOLOGY

The CDMA (code division multiple access) Development Group (CDG) yesterday announced the extension of the IS-95 standard set by US-based Telecommunication Industries Association to cover specifications such as voice quality, capacity and coverage to the 900 mhz and 1,710-1,900 mhz frequency range. There were no official specifications for these frequencies for CDMA-based systems until now.

The move is of significant import for countries like India, EC members, Australia, among others, which deploy the GSM (groupe special mobile, a digital standard in cellular communications) systems. The extension (of the IS-95 for the 900 mhz and 1710-1900 mhz band) is a bid to expand the markets for CDMA-based communication systems, Craig Farrill, vice-president, strategic technology, Air Touch and also president of the CDG, said.

 

Setting specifications on the 900 mhz band (in which GSM systems operate in India) for CDMA-based systems will accelerate the process of development of these systems to operate in the band. Although vendors are developing such systems and a few are in the experimental stages (Motorola has a system under trial in China), this will be give the effort a big boost, a Nortel executive participating in the Second Annual CDMA World Congress said here.

CDMA-based systems, manufacturers claim, are between 40-50 per cent cheaper than comparable personal communication systems and are expected to have a huge market, if introduced. Already, some satellite telephony majors have applied to the department of telecommunications (DoT) for permission to operate personal communication (mobile) services based on CDMA in India. Other potential cellular operators have expressed their intentions to do so in the past.

A DoT official in Delhi said the cost benefits of CDMA were quite clear, but everything will depend on government policy. The cellular telecom services tender of the DoT in 1995 mandated the use of only GSM technology on the 900 mhz band. However, the pressure on the government to allow introduction of CDMA-based personal communication services is likely to build up because of the lower costs involved.

The pressure could come on two fronts: one, the existing cellular players deploying GSM technology are likely to ask the government permission to use CDMA-based systems. Besides, lower costs and other factors like wider coverage, higher capacity and low power consumption, are expected to propel this request.

The instance of UK-based mobile services operator, Vodafone, announcing last week that it will introduce CDMA-based systems in its network (until now dominated by GSM systems) is being cited here by experts.