Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Cingular Drops to Edge of Pack

Fri May 28, 5:04 PM ET Add Business - NewsFactor to My Yahoo!


Erika Morphy, wireless.newsfactor.com

Cingular is in danger of losing the race to deliver nationwide high-speed mobile services as Verizon and other competitors begin to roll out test pilots -- and in the case of Verizon, go nationwide with third-generation (3G) network technology.

The gap should be less noticeable by fall, says Yankee Group director Roger Entner. "Cingular is in the process of overlaying its nationwide network with EDGE coverage," he told NewsFactor. "Right now, the only two markets that do not have EDGE are Mississippi and Alabama. But by the end of the summer, those two states should be up as well."


Also, by the end of 2006, Cingular will have rolled out its wideband CDMA (news - web sites) network, Entner says.


Cingular tipped its hand a little to the market with its road map for post-EDGE deployment. Recently, the company announced plans at the Lehman Brothers Global Wireless Conference for a field trial of Lucent (NYSE: LU - news) Technologies UMTS and HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) gear in Atlanta this summer and even hinted that it was about to accelerate plans for a nationwide rollout as well.


Hear This, Cingular


But the clear leader -- for the moment at least -- is Verizon Wireless, as it proceeds with its US$1 billion plan to offer wide-area wireless broadband nationwide within two years. Dubbed "BroadbandAccess," the new service is based on network technology from Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM - news), known as "evolution-data optimized" (CDMA2000 1XEV-DO).


It promises to deliver transmission speeds in the range of 300-500 kilobits per second, roughly matching DSL connections. Initially, it will be delivered via PC cards, hooking up PDAs, mobile phones and other devices down the road.


Huge Implications for Business


Verizon's offering "is true 3G, as we define it, and it's faster than anything now available in wireless cellular technology," said IDC analyst Keith Waryas. "It is the first truly mobile office-enabling network, and has potentially huge implications for business remote-access services."


Cingular should be able to match this capability once its plans are complete by 2006, Entner says. The trial Cingular plans to launch this summer, for example, will use spectrum in the 1.9 Ghz band.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20040528/bs_nf/24273