Maybe WCDMA Deserves To Be Bashed
Last week I wrote that WCDMA will be the global standard so there is no point in bashing it, it's here to stay. Well I might have been wrong about that. After reading Andrew Seybold's latest Commentary4Mobility column, titled Solving Europe's 3G Problems, it looks like there is an alternative to WCDMA/UMTS, GSM1x. WCDMA is struggling to get out of the gate because of high spectrum costs and technical glitches with equipment. GSM1x allows operators to overlay a CDMA1x network on their existing GSM networks and deploy dual-mode handsets. The advantage of GSM 1x is that operators would gain network capacity and enhanced data speeds without needing new spectrum. GSM has been great at creating an international standard. But maybe the industry needs to re-examine how it gets to 3G. If operators can have the best of GSM (global standard, roaming) and CDMA (spectrum efficiency), why struggle with WCDMA?
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