3GSM: Nokia launches UMA platform

BARCELONA – Nokia today unveiled its unlicensed mobile access (UMA) platform today at the 3GSM World Congress here, announcing a UMA controller for the network and its first UMA dual-mode GSM/W-LAN phone for the end-user.

Unlike other session initiation protocol solutions, which convert calls to VoIP once handed off to a wireless LAN, UMA tunnels the GSM signal through the W-LAN IP signal, creating an end-to-end GSM over two separate radio access networks. Considered one of the first steps in network convergence, Nokia and other vendors are positioning the technology as a means to offload cellular traffic onto the Internet and onto the IT networks of enterprises—saving the carrier network capacity and saving the customer money.

The UMA phone, the Nokia 6136, is a quad-band Java phone pre-loaded with the UMA client and containing both U.S. and international GSM frequencies as wall as a W-LAN radio. The phone will be available in the second quarter, but Orange has already committed to launching the handset though it didn’t select Nokia for its UMA infrastructure.

Nokia today also announced a partnership with rival handset maker Sony Ericsson to work together in promoting digital video broadcast-handheld technology, the new mobile TV standard based on digital TV specifications. The two will participate in interoperability trials and promote multi-vendor mobile TV services.