IP: Vodafone in the 3G saddle (mazl'tov)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "Janos Gereben" <janos451 () earthlink net>
>
> Vodafone footprint overrides Verizon's 3G choice
> Ray Hegarty - www.the451.com
>
> New York - It looks as if Verizon Wireless parent Vodafone has won
> the battle over the US wireless carriers' long-term 3G choice. At
> its analyst briefing day in New York on Tuesday, Vodafone said it
> would encourage its US affiliate Verizon to switch to W-CDMA.
> Verizon Wireless is jointly owned by Vodafone and Verizon
> Communications (recently formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and
> GTE).
>
> Verizon had previously indicated it preferred 3G cdma2000 1xEV
> technology - 1xEV is compatible with Verizon's existing base
> station deployment and considered cheaper to deploy. But
> Vodafone's global 3G W-CDMA footprint ambitions sit uneasily with
> Verizon's more domestic business concerns. Verizon's switch to
> W-CDMA will be a blow to the US cdma2000 developer and
> manufacturing community, particularly Qualcomm. Verizon Wireless
> claims to be the largest wireless communications provider in the
> US, with 27.5 million wireless customers.
>
> Jim Gerace, Verizon Wireless spokesman for corporate strategy and
> policy, claimed Wednesday that Verizon has always said its
> long-term migration path to 3G technology is predicated on the
> flexibility to deploy different standards. "We still have that
> [1xEV] option," he said. Perhaps, but the tone of Verizon's
> comments toward W-CDMA has changed noticeably since March.
>
> "It has always been our intention to take advantage of the
> international footprint, and that fits more comfortably with
> W-CDMA," said Gerace.
>
> Back in March, at CTIA 2001 in Las Vegas, Verizon CTO Richard
> Lynch had said that Verizon was opting for cdma2000 because "we
> don't have to change the infrastructure. With less-compatible
> technologies, such as W-CDMA, there is no compatibility. Cdma2000
> gives us backwards and forwards compatibility of technology."
>
> Although Gerace admitted that international roaming is a very
> small part of the company's business today, he claimed that "even
> among North America customers, flexibility is essential," and that
> includes roaming. By choosing W-CDMA, Verizon can avoid paying a
> competitor for US roaming from Europe and Asia.
>
> For now, Verizon remains committed to rolling out 2.5G cdma2000
> 1XRTT, beginning in the fourth quarter. Lucent recently won a $5bn
> deal to supply cdma2000 1X equipment for Verizon's coast-to-coast
> US network. Gerace said the upgrade would potentially double the
> existing network's voice capacity and increase data transmission
> speeds by nearly 10 times, to 144Kbps.
>
> Gerace believes that cdma2000 1XRTT will meet the majority of
> users' needs for the foreseeable future. "For the average user,
> 144Kbps works very well," he said. The question of what 3G
> technology Verizon will employ is still academic at this point -
> we haven't even rolled out 2.5G yet, he said.
>
> ================
> Janos Gereben/SF, CA
> janos451 () earthlink net



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