CDMA goes for Vegas jackpot , 360 Communications rolls the digital dice >BY Jason Meyers, Wireless Networks Editor

For a digital wireless technology as much maligned as code division multiple access, it seems fitting that one of its earliest proving grounds be Las Vegas. But after a long testing period leading up to last week's service launch, 360ø Communications is confident that CDMA's luck is about to change.

The cellular network operator recently completed a six-month "friendly user" trial in the region during which employees of 360 and infrastructure provider Motorola tested CDMA service.

"We didn't see any intermodulation problems in the Las Vegas system," said Samantha Andersen, manager of technical planning for 360, adding that the carrier did run into some bugs during testing that were righted with new software.

The southern Nevada network is made up of both analog and narrowband-AMPS gear. As of last week, 37 existing cell sites had been upgraded with CDMA capabilities, allowing digital coverage for 85% of the traffic on the network, according to Susan Amato, senior vice president of engineering and network operations for 360. The carrier estimated a capacity increase of at least six times that of analog and more than twice that of the NAMPS system.

That number is lower than some of CDMA's previous promises, which is likely an indication that 360 has learned from its own-and others'-mistakes, one analyst said.

"There have been so many promises made and broken about CDMA that they're probably being smart," said John Ledahl, director of wireless programs at Dataquest. Indeed, like a good gambler, 360 is hedging its bets. The carrier appears to be steering clear of inflated capacity estimates until it can put up real numbers as proof, focusing instead on the enhanced voice quality CDMA can offer and the system's potential for future growth.

"It could be looked at as a conservative number, but because our tests of the network so far have not been with commercial customers, we prefer to be a little conservative in our estimate," Amato said.

Despite the rapid growth of the Las Vegas region, its cellular system has not been overloaded, so 360's decision to move to CDMA was not necessarily dictated by a desperate need for more capacity. In fact, the NAMPS system has provided the carrier with excellent capacity, said John Powers, director of PCS market development for Motorola's Cellular Infrastructure Group.

"The quietest success of the cellular industry has been NAMPS, and one of its biggest beneficiaries has been 360," Powers said. "They have a very high-capacity analog system, which allowed them to free up the spectrum to test [CDMA]."

That's not the case for AirTouch Cellular's system in Los Angeles, which is currently carrying a limited number of hand-picked CDMA customers and also uses Motorola infrastructure equipment. There, the heavily loaded analog system was in dire need of more capacity, Powers said.

"They've done a great job with analog, but anything they can do there to get more capacity is going to be a benefit," he said.

Las Vegas, on the other hand, is a much more compressed territory and doesn't have the same load of commuter users as L.A., said one analyst.

"The big difference is probably not the architecture as much as the environment," said Ira Brodsky, president of Datacomm Research. "I suspect Las Vegas is a much easier radio environment than L.A."

One of the benefits of not grappling with an already-overloaded analog system is that 360 can channel CDMA's strengths into other areas, Powers said.

"The in-building coverage is phenomenal because CDMA has very good performance in terms of range," he said. "It's not significantly better than NAMPS, but if it's not a heavily loaded system, you're going to get better range."

CDMA technology has gained considerable ground over the past year, with three U.S. cellular operators now either conducting limited market tests or offering commercial service. The difference between 360's turn-up and the limited CDMA deployments of Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile in portions of New Jersey and AirTouch in L.A. is that 360's service is available to any customer who wants it. That should help quell CDMA critics, particularly those who have said outright that CDMA is a fraud, said Brodsky.

"Now we have a fully commercial CDMA service," he said. "It's not being sold to hand-picked users, and it's not just being beta tested."

The commercial acceptance of new digital systems-gauged primarily by customers' service quality assessments-is critical to the long-term success of digital, said Ledahl.

"There's a finite number of potential cellular service prospects out there," he said. "If digital deployments continue to disappoint customers, it will eventually have an affect on the marketplace. "The last thing we want is to stay in an analog world."