Will U.S. carriers switch mobile standards?

By Reuters

Published: December 15, 2005, 5:22 AM PST

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North American telecom operators may end up shifting to the GSM mobile standard from the rival CDMA system, according to senior executive at Siemens.

"Latin America is already moving from CDMA technologies to GSM," Christoph Catselitz, the head of Siemens' mobile networks business, told Finnish business daily Taloussanomat in an article published Thursday.

"I would not bet on North America continuing with CDMA."

CDMA (code division multiple access) technology was invented by San Diego-based Qualcomm, and the company delivers virtually all chips needed in CDMA networks and mobile phones used by some 500 million consumers mostly in the Americas and Asia.

The rival European-invented GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) has 1.6 billion users globally, according to the GSM Association.

"CDMA is losing market share globally as the new mobile phone users live mostly in the areas where GSM is the leading technology," Catselitz said.

Catselitz said Siemens aims to expand its network infrastructure services operation faster than the market grows. It has 80 deals with operators in 50 countries.

China is among the markets where the company is active. Catselitz expects China to issue third generation (3G) licenses in several stages, starting early next year.

"I believe China's 3G licenses will be given in the early part of 2006; it could be the first quarter," he said.

China is expected to spend more than $10 billion to set up its 3G networks after licenses are awarded.

Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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