The Hindu Business Line : Spectrum row now spreads to equipment vendors

While equipment vendors such as Motorola, Nortel and Nokia say that CDMA equipment can be developed for the 1800 Mhz frequency, others such as Ericsson, Lucent and Qualcomm support the CDMA-based operators' stance that the equipment is available for the 1900 Mhz band only.

Though most of the vendors claim neutrality when it comes to technology, the controversy around the spectrum allocation has divided the vendors along the lines of GSM and CDMA lobby groups.

"If any CDMA operators comes to us and asks us for setting up a network in 1800 Mhz, we will be able to do it. Technology is not dependant on radio frequency. It just needs to be adapted and we have the ability to do it," says a senior executive from Motorola.

Motorola's views are echoed by Finland based technology company, Nokia. "The 1900 Mhz band has to be reserved for third generation (3G) services as per ITU. That could either be for GSM or CDMA operators as long as they are offering 3G services. However, this band should not be allocated to non-3G operators," said a Nokia representative.

Though Nokia does not manufacture CDMA equipment, it has handsets that are compatible with the 1800 Mhz band.

However, Swedish major Ericsson says that it does not support CDMA equipment in the 1800 Mhz band. "Ericsson has CDMA equipment only in 800 Mhz and 1900 Mhz as these are the standard frequencies deployed globally by major operators," says Mr Sanjeet Pandit, Senior Business Director, Business Management, in a letter written to Reliance Infocomm, a CDMA-based player.

Agrees Mr Kanwalinder Singh, Chief Technical Officer, Lucent Technologies. "We are not aware of any networks where dual band 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz infrastructure have been deployed."

Giving a perspective to the controversy, Mr Peter MacKinnon, President, GSM, Nortel Networks, says, "The question here is not whether we can do it or not. Of course if anyone wants to deploy CDMA equipment on 1800 Mhz, it can be done. However one has to look at what cost this can be done.

"We feel that the Indian Government should take the US model where it is left to the operators to decide on which frequency band they want to offer services. There is no dearth on the 1900 Mhz band for the GSM operators to feel threatened of interference in 3G services. Both CDMA and 3G can co-exist on the 1900Mhz."

GSM and CDMA operators have been fighting a fierce battle over frequency allocation. GSM operators say that the 1900 Mhz should be restricted for 3G services and therefore CDMA operators can be given additional radio frequency in the 1800 Mhz.

This is being opposed by the CDMA players on grounds that there is no equipment and mobile handset that is compatible with 1800 Mhz and therefore fresh frequency should be made available in the 1900Mhz.