A simmering battle between rival 3G technology standards flared up last week after Telstra, which runs a CDMA 2000 1x network in Australia, announced it was switching over to the W-CDMA camp.
The high-profile defection could have serious implications for backers of CDMA 2000 technology. Industry watchers said the pressure would be on the CDMA group to impress upon operators the urgency to choose its platform over the other side's technology, especially in large emerging 3G markets.
This is especially so in the mainland. Like Telstra, China Unicom runs parallel GSM and CDMA networks. Although China Unicom is expected to receive a 3G licence based on CDMA 2000, Telstra's example demonstrates this technology migration path is not a birthright for CDMA backers.
The renewed battle between W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 again puts network operators awkwardly in the middle of an unwanted tug of war, even as mobile subscribers want their service providers to focus more on developing compelling mainstream data applications.
'Consumers may not care about the technologies underlying the amazing new services they want on their phones, but to deliver these services profitably the wireless operator does [care],' said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, the main proponent of CDMA 2000.
Market researcher Gartner said Telstra's switch to W-CDMA meant a tough future for CDMA 2000 in Asia. It said: 'Operators with more than one mobile network are rationalising their operations in the move to next-generation cellular services, and this decision by Telstra underlines the deteriorating prospects for CDMA 2000 as a mainstream mobile technology.'