Ericsson applauds operators' agreement on globally harmonized 3G standard

Ericsson applauds operators' agreement on globally harmonized 3G standard Ericsson today applauded the agreement by the Operators Harmonization Group on a globally harmonized 3G CDMA standard to serve the world market. The announcement followed an Operators Harmonization Group meeting in Toronto, Canada, May 25-26, attended by more than 30 of the world's leading wireless operators and more than a dozen wireless equipment manufacturers including Ericsson. The Operators Harmonization Group reached consensus on the recommendation of a harmonized global Code Division Multiple Access family of standards that cater for the migration of all digital wireless technologies. Today, the agreed recommendation has been sent as an open letter to the standardization organizations from the Operators Harmonization Group. "Ericsson has always advocated a market-driven standardization based on operators' true needs and the harmonization of 3G technologies to the benefit of end users and operators," says Sven-Christer Nilsson, CEO of Ericsson. "The operator agreement is indeed very good news for users, operators and vendors worldwide and we fully support it." "All the operators contributing to this historic accomplishment are to be congratulated on their efforts to ensure the timely completion of a harmonized family of standards. The agreement ensures that all standardization work can go forward according to schedule. This means we will see third-generation networks in the market by 2001," continues Sven-Christer Nilsson. The agreement addresses the requirements of both the WCDMA and cdma2000 communities by forming a specification for a direct-sequence mode for WCDMA, a multi-carrier mode for cdma2000 and a time division duplex (TDD) CDMA mode. The harmonized standard supports the timely development of next-generation radio technology wherever needed. "As a supplier of wireless infrastructure, we are particularly pleased that the harmonization issue has been successfully resolved since we have the complete product portfolio to offer all third-generation technologies in a worldwide market including EDGE for TDMA and GSM," says Sven-Christer Nilsson. The Operators Harmonization Group (OHG) Toronto discussions were the last in a series of meetings scheduled to discuss the final technical parameters of a globally harmonized CDMA family of standards. The agreement is entitled "Harmonized Global 3G (G3G) Technical Framework for ITU IMT-2000 CDMA Proposal" and has been sent to both ITU TG8/1 and the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) hosted by ETSI. Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprise and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Eric Österberg, Communications Director Ericsson Corporate Communications Phone: +46 70 590 0599; E-mail: eric.osterberg@lme.ericsson.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00340/bit0001.pdf http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/03/19990603BIT00340/bit0002.doc