[November 18, 2005]

Qualcomm: 3G is a reality in LatAm

3G technology in Latin America is already a reality through CDMA, even though GSM platform providers say there is no such implementation in the region, Carlos Rivera business development VP for Latin America at US mobile technology firm Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), told BNamericas.

The stance has the support of Carlos Carnevali, Latin America and Caribbean region VP for US technology vendor Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), who said this week that 3G is already here thanks in part to mobile operators' adoption of IP platforms.

"Those companies that are not selling 3G say it has not been implemented in the region, but the ITU [International Telecommunications Union] has set five standards as 3G technology, three of which are based in CDMA technologies," Rivera said.

The ITU has approved a family of five standards that meet IMT-2000 service criteria, more commonly known as 3G. These standards are WCDMA, CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA, based in CDMA technology, and UWC-136 and DECT+, based on GSM technology.

There are already 28 CDMA2000 networks in the Latin American and the Caribbean, within 19 countries, and WCDMA is expected to be the upgrade path as much for GSM/EDGE operators as for CDMA operators. Some operators using CDMA 3G technology are Smartcom in Chile, Telefnica Mviles in 10 countries, Alegro PCS in Ecuador, Telgua in Guatemala, Telcel in Mexico, Movilnet in Venezuela, Vivo in Brazil and Ola in Colombia.

According to telecoms consultancy Signals, the 3G technologies currently operating are CDMA2000 EVDO and UMTS/WCDMA, although in Latin America and the Caribbean there are only a few EVDO terminals available since there are no UMTS/WCDMA networks in the region.

New projects related to CDMA 3G networks include Bahamas Telecommunications Company, one in El Salvador, two in Trinidad & Tobago and another one in Venezuela. There is also an EVDO project in the Caiman Islands.

THE COMPETITOR'S SIDE

Wibe Wagemans, marketing director for Latin America at the multimedia division of Nokia Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia (NYSE: NOK) recently confirmed that "our competitors and Nokia itself are already selling 3G products, in Chile, for example".

However, Nokia feels that in many cases people can only use these devices when they travel, because the local infrastructure is not fully in place, and the company believes 3G technology is unlikely to take off in the region during 2006.

"When talking about 3G services you need to differentiate the corporate market from the mass market. EVDO services in Venezuela, through ABA Movil from Movilnet, or Verizon Wireless in Puerto Rico, have more demand for LAN cards that provide internet connectivity to laptop users. But there are services such as Play 3G from Vivo or Todo Iusacell, where they offer EVDO service to non-corporate segments," Signals president Jos Otero told BNamericas.

According to Rivera, when GSM operators talk about 3G they are talking about this technology running over GSM networks, which is, by all accounts the dominant technology in Latin America, mostly because of the prices of the terminals, which are cheaper compared to CDMA terminals.

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has also said CDMA is the "pure" evolution to 3G, while GSM is a delay in reaching 3G.

"[However], until there is attractive content and different solutions that require the use of 3G technologies at a reasonable cost, we will not see a high level of adoption of these services in the region," Otero added.

3G BENEFITS WITH CDMA

For 3G services, CDMA2000 offers an efficient use of radio spectrum, enabling wireless networks to handle more users simultaneously and it is able to provide higher data transfer speeds and to support advanced multimedia services.

There are three major benefits from 3G technology, according to Rivera. 3G offers a bandwidth at the same level of DSL of cable modem services, providing up to 2,400Kbps.

"Besides, there is greater capacity. [Com

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