TRAI recommendations favour CDMA operators

Posted on | September 30, 2006 |

Financial Express states that the CDMA operators will have an 8-9 month head start over GSM players and a significant price and technology advantage in rolling out 3G services from the day of acquiring frequency.

This is largely because CDMA players have been given the option to bid for 3G services on the 800 Mhz spectrum that they already use for their current services. GSM players, on the other hand, have been allocated only 2,100 Mhz spectrum for 3G, which requires them to install fresh equipment and new software.

Existing CDMA2000 base stations can be upgraded to support EvDO (evolution data optimised), or 3G, via a simple channel card upgrade. EvDO requires only moderate upgrade of the core network, according to a report by Signals Research Group, a third party research provider.

CDMA will need fewer towers for operations vis-a-vis the 2100 Mhz, as the propagation characteristics of the 800 Mhz band are more

TRAI recommendations also mean that the price of the 800 Mhz spectrum be one-fourth of the second highest bid for the 2100 Mhz band.

“Worldwide, 3G is deployed in the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. Therefore, the economies of scale in equipment purchase are also in favour of CDMA players. This is not in 2100 Mhz,

Category: 3G

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