3G Family Matters

The great debate over air-interface standards in 3G has undergone a change. Just when carriers were breathing a sigh of relief over the ITU's decision to abandon its search for a single global standard, a new controversy has erupted. Though freed from worry over the imminent possibility of being cut out of the 3G market, cellular and PCS carriers now face another set of concerns -- "family" matters.

"We're unavoidably confronted with the fact that there are different technologies already in place," said Kevin Doyle, BellSouth International director of corporate communications. "It's now a matter of seeing if we can't make these technologies work with each other."

For most large wireless carriers with global operations, choices now include using all three technologies. For example, BellSouth primarily is TDMA-based in Latin America, but it does use CDMA as well as GSM in other markets. This multiple usage is one of the reasons for the ITU's decision in February to endorse all three standards for the next generation of wireless technology. The focus now is on making the global market more harmonious -- not more fragmented.

"What we're now going to see is that carriers who use all of these technologies will look to forge agreements whereby they can make it easier for their customers to travel ... the first issue will be interoperability; the second will be cost effectiveness ... with the goal being to make the customer's roaming as seamless as possible," Doyle said.

"Alliances like the one between UWCC and the North American GSM Alliance ... focus on the new 3G design of compatibility set forth by the ITU," saidd Subodh Karnad, Frost & Sullivan industry analyst. "Now everyone has an open game ... everyone can go and concentrate on their own standards ... everyone has a niche market."

It's this concentration on technologies setting their own standards and finding or expanding their niche markets which is causing the renewed debate. The competition among individual technologies to be the single global standard may be cooling off, but the competition among the emerging 3G family of standards is just heating up.

For now, the old debate born out of the battle between three competing technologies vying for the position of industry standard has not ended -- it's simply reformed. The new controversy is over what position each technology will hold in the burgeoning family of the 3G global mix.