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Ericsson and Vodafone UK makes world's first WCDMA voice call over commercial network
WDN Staff
Yesterday, representatives from Ericsson and Vodafone announced the very first WCDMA live voice call in field was
successfully carried out.
According to representatives from Ericsson, "this is yet another milestone in bringing 3G to the customers and a proof point of Ericsson's pole position in the market."
The call was made in a complete WCDMA network, based on commercial nodes. It was set-up with a mobile phone
over an air interface and handled in Vodafone UK's 3G network in Thames Valley, to be terminated on a fixed line in
Newbury.
The call, made in conjunction with vodafone's principal 3G infrastructure supplier Ericsson, was sent
over Vodafone's initial network of some 30 base stations situated in the west of London in the Thames Valley.
"This live call, using commercial equipment, is a step in our rollout plan designed to ensure pioneering customers like
Vodafone to have an early market launch," says Torbjorn Possne, Executive Vice President and head of Ericsson's
business unit WCDMA, PDC. "This clearly demonstrates that Ericsson not only is the leader in technology but also the first
to bring it to the market."
Ericsson has a long and strong tradition of working with open standards. Since Ericsson initiated research on WCDMA
in 1989, Ericsson has been a pioneering driver in established standardization bodies, such as ETSI and 3GPP, with the aim
to reach common mature standards in WCDMA.
To date, Ericsson has supplied no less than a third of all the technology contributions to develop the standard WCDMA,
which is far more than any other vendor. This determined technology push has resulted in a head start on the market for the
new generation of mobile technology. Ericsson has been named as supplier in 25 out of 45 WCDMA published
commercial agreements, making Ericsson the worlds leading 3G supplier.
As the driver of Mobile Internet, Ericsson is also promoting the development of IETF including the standardization of
protocols between computers and telephones, aiming at an "all- IP solution" for WCDMA.
Ericsson's growing record of 3G "firsts":
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1996: Ericsson conducted the first multimedia test for WCDMA.
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1997: the world's first experimental WCDMA system was delivered to NTT DoCoMo, Japan.
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In March 1998 Ericsson was the world's first vendor to demonstrate GPRS live at a speed of 115 kb/s as well as
GPRS/EDGE live at a speed of 384 Kb/s.
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September 1999: Worlds first roaming call between a live GSM network and WCDMA.
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February 2000: Ericsson introduced the world's first real-time router for wireless networks. The router enables
operators to build all-IP wireless networks that can handle demanding, real-time services.
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In May 2000 the Hong Kong operator SmarTone, together with Ericsson, succeeded in introducing the world's first
live operational GPRS network.
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Ericsson successfully completed the world's first field trial of voice over IP in September 2000, also using the
ROCCO compression algorithm, an important Ericsson contribution to the future standard on compression
technology.
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November 2000: Ericsson, BT Wireless and SmarTone in Hong Kong staged the world's first successful end-to-end
demonstration of IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol, together with GPRS.
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Ericsson was the first vendor to deliver equipment for commercial launch, beginning last year to customers in Europe
and Japan.
Requirements of 3G
3G will increase the potential of the mobile internet and will open up new revenue streams
by bringing together two powerful forces: wideband radio communications and IP-based services.
"Making 3G a reality depends on technology developments in different
areas. These include amendments to the radio interface to support
wideband communications and in the core network. Supporting
technologies, such as WAP and Bluetooth, also have an important role to
play. This section provides a brief overview of some of the main
technologies and developments involved. Ericsson supports all of these
technologies and has played an active role in their development." (Ericsson.com)
Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of
mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and
other communications tools. With presence in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the
world.
Vodafone Group Plc is the world's largest wireless communications firm, headquartered in the United Kingdom.
"Vodafone" has mobile operations in 30 countries on five continents, with more than 83.4 million proportionate mobile
customers.
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