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CTIA: EDGE wireless market to emerge in 2003By Robert Keenan
Some operators claim that making the move to EDGE will require only an additional $1 to $2 per POP (point of presence) in cost, said Chris Pearson, executive vice president of 3G Americas, the industry association backing the Global System for Mobile (GSM) camp in the United States. In the second half of 2003, U.S. deployments of EDGE technology by AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile are likely, according to Pearson.
AT&T Wireless and Cingular executives agreed. AT&T announced it is investing $325 million to roll out EDGE technology to 200 million POPs, said Mike Bamburak, AT&T Wireless' vice president of technology architecture and standards. "Right now 79 percent of our GSM/GPRS POPs are EDGE enabled. We'll be 100-percent capable by the end of the year," Bamburak said.
Cingular hasn't yet detailed the amount of money it is spending on an EDGE upgrade. But all GSM equipment being purchased by Cingular is EDGE-enabled, said Mark Austin, Cingular's director of radio technology and planning. "We're actively testing EDGE."
Despite constant pleas, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) still has not allocated additional spectrum for the development of UMTS-compliant W-CDMA and 3x cdma2000 services. To move data rates forward, EDGE is therefore the only option for U.S. GSM operators.
The European landscape is different. After overpaying for new 3G spectrum, European operators are under intense pressure to make W-CDMA a reality. That push raises questions about the viability of EDGE in that sector.
A panel here that included representatives of Siemens, Ericsson, Nokia and Nortel called EDGE a complementary technology for W-CDMA, serving as a cost-effective upgrade in less densely populated European markets.
W-CDMA limited
Since W-CDMA will require a new rollout in a new spectrum band, panelists said it would take time to establish coverage across Europe. "W-CDMA will be limited to 30 to 40 percent of the coverage," said Klaus Kohrt, vice president of strategic product management at Siemens.
One reason why W-CDMA will be limited is the spectrum it uses. By operating in the 2 GHz range, W-CDMA systems will operate at shorter ranges than existing cellular systems operating in the 900 MHz band in Europe. That shorter range could require carriers to roll out three times the number of base stations now used in existing 900-MHz GSM systems. That possibility would create real cost questions in the short term, said Mika Kahkola, head of GSM/EDGE BSS marketing and sales at Nokia.
"GSM won't go away for a long time," Bamburak said. "Therefore EDGE is going to happen."
To make it happen, infrastructure and handsets must be available. Infrastructure vendors are already delivering EDGE to the market. "Hundreds of thousands of EDGE-capable base station transceiver systems have shipped between 2000 and 2002," said Alan Hadden, president of the Global Mobile Suppliers Association.
While handsets aren't as readily available, Ericsson and Nokia have both prepped products for the market. Chipsets are also coming. Analog Devices and Philips have EDGE-capable chipsets available now. Texas Instruments, Skyworks and RF Micro Devices are also working on EDGE-enabled chip offerings.
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