ITU Gives CDMA450 Operators 3G Status

The International Telecommunication Union has approved the use of the 450-470 MHz frequency band for international mobile telecommunications technologies, which upgrades CDMA450 operators to 3G operator status. The announcement was made during the 2007 World radio communication conference held at Geneva, Switzerland.

According to CDMA Development Group (CDG), CDMA450 is a 3G solution that combines CDMA2000 wireless communications services with affordable network coverage using the 450 MHz frequency band. It is also flexible enough to deliver fully mobile or fixed wireless local loop (WLL) services to expansive geographic areas.

The International 450 Association (IA450) said that the decision will benefit the use of both basic and advanced services such as telephony, VoIP, mobile broadband, push-to-talk, video telephony, emergency services, broadcast and multicasting, location-based services and telemedicine services.

Regional telecommunications associations such as Asia Pacific Telecommunity, African Telecommunications Union, Inter-American Telecommunication Commission and regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications pushed for the adoption of CDMA450 as IMT.

“The IA450 believes this identification will bolster a wider and more efficient utilization of the 450-470 MHz band through the deployment of CDMA450 systems for the provision 3G services,” said Tina Radford, chairman of the IA450.

The CDMA450 is expanding across all regions; markets such as Argentina, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Russia have allocated the 450 MHz frequency band to provide universal telephone and Internet access.

According to the CDG and IA450, as of early 2007, there are 103 operators in 60 countries who have deployed or are planning to deploy CDMA450 services. Out of these, 67 operators in 36 countries are already offering commercial services to more than 12 million people, while the remaining 36 networks are being trialed or deployed in 24 countries.

Leading infrastructure equipment manufacturers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Nortel, UTStarcom and ZTE are also offering CDMA450 enabled devices.

Source: ComputerWire daily updates