News
Issue #2003 - 21 (July 2003)
(Updated July 17, 2003)

INFRASTRUCTURE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES

IPWireless Tokyo Trial System Sets Stage for Additional Commercial Mobile Broadband Deployments in Asia

IPMobile Selects TD-CDMA Standards-Based Technology; Trial Subscribers to Enjoy High-Speed Mobile Internet Service Throughout Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Malmsbury, UK, July 2003 - IPWireless, Inc., the world leader in commercial mobile broadband deployments, today announced that IPMobile, a broadband mobile Internet protocol (IP) communications company, has selected the IPWireless mobile broadband technology for a trial system in Tokyo, marking the first time a Japanese provider has deployed the data-centric UMTS TD-CDMA (TDD) standard.

Leveraging a non-line-of-sight architecture, IPMobile has equipped three cell sites in the Tokyo metropolitan area with the UMTS TD-CDMA standards-based IPWireless mobile broadband network solution. Trial subscribers, using both IPWireless PC cards (PCMCIA) for laptops and PDAs and pocket-sized modems with USB and Ethernet interfaces, are enjoying instantaneous, "plug-and-play" Internet access with data rates of up to 3Mbps in and around Tokyo. The IPWireless network solution gives users the complete portability, mobility and freedom of a wireless Internet connection in a licensed spectrum, so data integrity is assured.

Most third-generation UMTS FDD (WCDMA) systems introduced in Japan to date are primarily focused on voice traffic. Highly focused on deploying a standards-based solution for data transmission, IPMobile chose IPWireless in large part because it offers a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) compliant solution. Two of the world's leading UMTS TDD (TD-CDMA) experts are taking part in the trial - professor Masao Nakagawa and special associate professor Riaz Esmailzadeh of Keio University in Japan. In 1991, Nakagawa and Esmailzadeh were among the first in the world to advocate the advantages of TD-CDMA as an optimal system for high-speed data transmission.

"TD-CDMA is the technology initially developed in Japan. It has a lot of technical features and capabilities that enable a 'Ubiquitous Network'," Professor Nakagawa said. "The existing cellular operators adhere to the Third Generation Systems using FD-CDMA (FDD), which is reminiscent of operators insisting on ISDN several years ago. In Japan's fixed-line environment, ADSL certainly arrived before FTTH, and I would not be surprised if a similar situation occurs in the mobile domain."

"Although currently we are focusing on data communications, I would like to expand our plan for a variety of applications through this trial," said Itsuo Sugimura, president, IPMobile. "This system can be deployed to offer broadband access services easily and economically not only in major cities, but also in rural areas where ADSL and FTTH are not available. We look forward to working with those interested in this technology and business opportunities both in Japan and abroad."

Today's announcement builds on IPWireless' growing presence in the region, as a Southeast Asian operator recently announced commercial services as part of a national deployment of the IPWireless solution, and demonstrates continued global traction for IPWireless' standards-based mobile broadband solution.

"Following Nortel's recent trial of our technology which proved the world's first interoperability and co-existence between UMTS TDD and UMTS FDD networks, we are excited to move forward with another commercial trial that validates the real-world performance of IPWireless mobile broadband," said Chris Gilbert, CEO, IPWireless. "Given its high-density population and heavy saturation of mobile cellular devices, Japan presents a great opportunity to demonstrate to operators the benefits of deploying 3GPP-compliant technology. This trial not only underscores the value of our solution, but also demonstrates the inherent advantages of deploying standards-based technologies."

Source: Press Release from IPWireless

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: CDMA-TDD operates in the same frequency band for uplink and downlink. As such, it presents its own problems for interference. Therefore, piloting of this technology buy IPWireless is noteworthy. WE expect to learn a lot about interference and co-existence between FDD and TDD CDMA networks. 

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