AT&T Wireless Moves to 3G

Electronic News, Dec 11, 2000 by John F. Mason

Company signs agreements with four big players

To develop and install what could become the first 3G wireless infrastructure in the United States, AT&T Wireless Services has signed letters of intent with Ericsson of Sweden; Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, N.J.; Nokia of Finland; and Nortel Networks of Canada.

The 3G network will upgrade communications and permit mobile commerce for AT&T Wireless subscribers; it will provide delivery of high-speed wireless Internet access, video, data, graphics and other broadband multimedia services directly to handheld mobile telephones, PDAs, laptop and notebook computers, and PC devices.

The initial phase of the network, expected to be one of the first to support

UMTS outside of Europe and Japan, will be launched in the first half of 2001.

Ericsson

Ericsson will supply network equipment and its R520 mobile phones to launch its GPRS network. The R520 phone supports GSM 900/1800/1900 frequencies, allowing communication on one phone throughout 120 countries on five continents. The R520 is the first GPRS phone with Bluetooth and the first to support WAP 1,2.1. It also supports Chinese characters.

Ericsson will also supply base-station systems including OSM for voice, GPRS for packet data and enhanced data rates for global evolution and UMTS for higher-speed 3G applications.

"AT&T Wireless is currently using Ericsson's analog cellular networks throughout its 2G deployments," said Mohan Gyani, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Wireless Services.

Lucent Technologies

Lucent will engineer and install its OSM base stations with GPRS to work alongside the current AT&T Digital PCS network. The new network offers a direct path to UMTS.

AT&T Wireless Services will continue to rely on Lucent to upgrade its existing network. In addition, Lucent's GPRS-enabled GSM base stations will support the introduction of higher-speed wireless data, mobile Internet services and UMTS.

The cornerstone of Lucent's contribution to the network is the GSM Flexent Macro Cell, designed at Lucent's Nuremberg, Germany, laboratories and manufactured in Columbus, Ohio. While commercially available for GSM and GPRS deployment at both the 850MHz and 1,900MHz spectrum licensed by AT&T Wireless, the same base will also support UMTS at the 1,900MHz band.

Nokia Networks

Nokia will supply AT&T Wireless with GPRS-ready, 1,900MHz radio network systems including triple-mode (GSM/EDGE/UMTS) Nokia UltraSite base-station radio equipment. The company will also support planning and implementation services to speed up deployment of 3G (UMTS) services in the United States.

"The 3G leaders will be those who understand the intricacies of mobility, Internet Protocol (IP) and end-to-end solutions as well as the rapid changes in consumer markets," said Tim Eckersley, vice president of Nokia Networks.

In addition to deployment of the base stations, Nokia will build a 1,900MHz EDGE/GPRSIUMTS test network on the AT&T Wireless campus in Redmond, Wash. The companies will also establish a system-and-services-creation center to develop mobile Internet technologies and applications. In the center, AT&T Wireless, Nokia Networks and Nokia Mobile Phones will come together to produce end-to-end systems and procedures to offer multimedia services and applications to customers.

Nortel Networks

Nortel will provide IP infrastructure equipment and help AT&T Wireless to create an application lab to focus on development and integration of wireless Internet services. "We have worked with the Nortel Networks core infrastructure through our GPRS highspeed trials since June 2000," said AT&T Wireless Services' Gyani.

The Nortel Networks IP core network infrastructure system for AT&T Wireless provides solid support for evolution from today's 2G wireless standards to 2.50 and 3G standards including GPRS, EDGE and UMTS.

Nortel's packet-based IP core network system for GSM/DPRS/EDGE and UMTS includes Nortel Networks Passport multiservice switching platform and Nortel Networks Shasta 5000 Broadband Service Node.

Nortel Networks recently won major European UMTS network awards estimated to be worth more than $1.8 billion. These included a five-year contract with BT Cellnet in Great Britain, a 12-month operation for Airtel in Spain, and a three-year deal with Xfera, also in Spain.