Europe goes out on a limb with 3G standard

The jury is out on the CDMA2000 standard, reports Rene Millman.

It looks likely that European third-generation (3G) networks will operate under the W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) standards following comments from one of Qualcomm's European directors who is involved in CDMA technology.

Speaking at the launch in London of the company's 3G mobile phone chipsets, Qualcomm's marketing director Siegmund Redl warned that there was apathy towards its rival technology, CDMA2000, as the continent gears up for the rollout of 3G services.

"The jury's out on CDMA2000 in Europe. I'm not sure if there is going to be a handset manufacturer making CDMA2000 handsets for the European market," he said.

Upgrading to CDMA2000 makes a lot of sense for network operators in countries such as the US and Korea where CDMAOne networks have already been deployed. Both types of handset are compatible with each other's networks and, for operators, it offers quicker deployment of 3G services.

SK Telecom has had its network up and running in Korea since October last year. However, its data speeds aren't quite up to 3G standards: it only manages 144Kbps at its very limit. But it should double voice capacity, which will benefit operator and consumer alike. Last year Ericsson teamed up with Vodafone to supply 3G equipment based on the W-CDMA standard.

W-CDMA operates in two modes, each using 5Mhz carriers. The first uses paired bands, one for the uplink and the other for the down. It chops up its 5Mhz carrier pairs using frequency duplex division. The second mode chops an unpaired 5Mhz carrier into time slots to carry both uplink and downlink data, using time duplex division.

Japan's NTT DoCoMo has bought a significant stake in Hutchison 3G alongside Dutch telco KPN. DoCoMo is a keen supporter of W-CDMA and wants to ensure that it is the de facto mobile phone standard. What we are seeing is standards adoption driven less by technology and more by the relationships between operators and equipment suppliers.

Brian Winn, a consultant at telecoms analyst Schema, thinks the decision to go with one standard or another is based on no one wanting to be the odd one out. "There is a strong sense of not wanting to go out on a limb. If GSM has taught anyone anything, it is that standards are good," he said.

Whether operators have made their decision on technical grounds, or had the decision made for them, it is something they will have to live with for the foreseeable future.