#TBT: DoCoMo tests 4G; Camera phones boost mobile data use; CDMA in China; ... this week in 2003

Sep 29, 2023

Editor's Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for "Throwback Thursdays," tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!

DoCoMo tests 4G

Just as it blazed the third-generation trail, NTT DoCoMo is hedging its bet on fourth-generation wireless technology with a field trial in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, the center of its research and development. This is not the first time the carrier has unveiled its next-generation plans. "DoCoMo has been conducting research on 4G mobile communications technology since 1998," said the company. "In indoor experiments announced last October, DoCoMo's 4G system demonstrated maximum information bit rates of 100 Mbps (Megabits per second) for the downlink and 20 Mbps for the uplink." While DoCoMo performs the trials, standards are still under deliberations by the International Telecommunication Union's Radiocommunications sector, the same path that preceding technologies followed. "It is risky, but this may be DoCoMo's way to take a step forward and be a leader again," said Michael Gillin, president of Invisible Planet, adding that the company's FOMA service has not met with the success it intended. Rival carrier KDDI Corp. has garnered more market share with its 3G services. The operator said the field trial will employ Variable Spreading Factor Orthogonal Frequency and Code Division Multiplexing, as well as Variable Spreading Factor Code Division Multiple Access technologies. … Read more

Midwest Wireless deploys cdma2000 1x

Midwest Wireless launched the first phase of its cdma2000 1x network spanning 68 counties in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin and covering more than 50 percent of the carrier's total operational area and two-thirds of its licenses’ potential customers. Nortel Networks Ltd., which provided the CDMA infrastructure for Midwest Wireless, said it began deploying the 1x network over Midwest Wireless’ legacy TDMA network during the fourth quarter of 2002 and that the carrier's entire network would be 1x enabled by the end of this year. Nortel also said it provided Midwest Wireless’ TDMA network and has been working with the rural operator for nine years. Earlier this year, Dennis Miller, Midwest Wireless’ president and chief executive officer, told RCR Wireless News the carrier's 1x network plans would augment its previously available narrowband services, including ring tones and text messaging, and that he expected business users to drive early adoption of the service. Miller also said the decision to deploy 1x was not strictly based on generating future roaming revenue for the carrier, but on providing the best possible services to its current customer base. … Read more

Photo messaging helps drive mobile data use

A new customer survey shows that the wireless data industry may have turned the corner, a change that seems to be due to the advent of camera phones. The number of people using their phones to access Internet information increased for the first time since June 2001, according to the latest wireless Internet survey from global management consulting firm A. T. Kearney and the Judge Institute of Management at Cambridge University's business school. The survey found more than one-third of users said they have accessed the Internet on their mobile phones at least once in the last month, a 25-percent increase since the last study in June 2002. "The prospects for mobile data services seem to have turned the corner through a combination of greater phone capabilities, improved user experience and consumer comfort/confidence in using advanced phone features,’ said L. C. Mitchell, A.T. Kernel's vice president and communications industry practice leader for the Americas. "The study points to clear revenue potential for next-generation phone services. The challenge for mobile operators will be in structuring service offerings and pricing plans that respond to the unique needs of individual customer segments and implementing internal processes to exploit these opportunities." The study found much of the excitement over wireless data services stems from newly introduced camera phones. … Read more

Qualcomm, Nokia pursue CDMA in China

Bucking an anti-investment tide generated by the SARS epidemic, two major wireless players, Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Corp., announced initiatives to pursue CDMA investments in the Chinese market. Qualcomm said it has committed up to $100 million in venture investments in early- to mid-stage Chinese companies that develop and commercialize CDMA-based products, applications and services. It is part of the company's $500 million commitment announced in November 2000. In addition, the Chinese government granted Nokia a license to manufacture and sell mobile terminals using CDMA technology. "Qualcomm's investments over the next several years in promising, young, Chinese entrepreneurial companies will contribute to the growth of CDMA worldwide during this key expansion phase for the Chinese CDMA industry," said Tony Thornley, president and chief operating officer of Qualcomm. "China possesses a large pool of strong technical and marketing talent in CDMA. We expect to see a rapid increase in the number of new CDMA-related companies in China as third-generation CDMA technology is deployed worldwide." The San Diego-based company said it will target CDMA-based communications technology and devices, BREW application and platform developers, including gpsOne location-based application developers and service providers. The company will also focus on enabling and complementary technology providers. … Read more

Legislation targets spam email, including wireless

WASHINGTON-Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.), a long-time champion in the fight against the unsolicited commercial e-mail that increasingly devours Internet capacity and threatens wireless data in its infancy, this week is expected to introduce anti-spam legislation that competes with a similar bill backed by chairmen of the House commerce and judiciary committees. "She just feels current drafts create too large of a loophole," said a Wilson spokesman, referring to anti-spam legislation introduced May 22 by Rep. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and co-sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), who worked with Wilson on previous anti-spam initiatives, again plans to join the New Mexico lawmaker on the new bill. The House was poised to vote on a Wilson anti-spam bill in the 107th Congress, but the legislation was sidetracked by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A lot has changed since then in terms of homeland security and cyberspace spam. In 2001, according to the House Commerce Committee, spam represented 8 percent of all e-mail. Today, unwanted solicitations on the Internet comprise 50 percent of e-mail. Like other anti-spam bills, the Wilson legislation will be broad-based in its reach. "Our reading is it will include wireless," said Wilson's spokesman. The spokesman said Wilson's staff is working with the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association on the bill's language and its impact on the wireless industry. Among the handful of anti-spam bills in Congress, only one specifically targets mobile-phone spam. … Read more

Northrop Grumman backs public-safety spectrum at 700 MHz

WASHINGTON-Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Federal Communications Commission are at loggerheads over the global defense giant's push for a public-safety spectrum carve-out that could undermine agency efforts to free up valuable broadcast frequencies for new technologies and that complicates an auction report due to Congress later this month. Northrop Grumman last Tuesday said it petitioned the FCC to allocate an additional 10 megahertz in the 700 MHz band for advanced broadband wireless applications needed by first responders who lack communications interoperability. The petition for rulemaking was filed with the FCC on April 21. Why Grumman's IT unit waited a month to issue a press release is unclear. What is less uncertain is that before the petition was submitted to federal regulators, according to sources, private conversations between Grumman representatives and FCC officials did not go particularly well. In the post-9/11 world, Grumman has the kind of political clout to sway congressional leaders to free up spectrum for homeland security in a way that other, smaller companies lack. However, Grumman could face fierce opposition from GOP lawmakers who may be reluctant to forego potential auction revenue they may need to pay for President Bush's $350 billion tax cut. … Read more

800 MHz spectrum issues

WASHINGTON-The board of directors of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association on Wednesday voted to join a coalition that supports technical solutions to solving the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band. "The board voted to support the coalition filing on Wednesday. How and when that will manifest itself has yet to be determined," said CTIA spokesman Travis Larson. CTIA was noticeably absent from a filing made late last month that advocated a technical solution to the public-safety interference problem. Apparently, Tim Donahue, president and chief executive officer of Nextel Communications Inc., called for a vote on the coalition proposal. Donahue gave up the gavel as chairman of the CTIA board at Wednesday's meeting. Nextel supports a plan that would split the 800 MHz band into two parts-one for cellularized systems and one for non-cellularized systems. The most controversial aspect of the plan is that Nextel would receive 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band (1910-1915/1990-1995 MHz). … Read more

Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.

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