Standardization Gap

We need an iPhone that can be used everywhere in the world without the

operator's mercies. We should be able to buy an Ericsson cellular phone from an

upmarket in Los Angeles without checking with the shopkeeper whether we can use

this phone in rural belts of Mizoram. Most of Reliance Communications' CDMA

customers could not move to GSM without coughing up extra money for a new GSM

phone. Currently, one of my team members needs to be extra resourceful to get a

Motorola charger since most of the other colleagues use Nokia phones.

The global telecom industry is divided on key standardization issues. The

divide is more in the case of developed and developing economies. Unfortunately,

India, the second largest telecom market in terms of subscriber base, is still a

developing country and is yet to grab influential powers. Our global regulators

have off late started thinking seriously about standard telecom solutions and

interoperability issues.

Even in the case of new and evolving technologies, operators are up in arms

against lack of standardization. For instance, China Mobile, the world's largest

telecom operator by subscriber-base, is planning to migrate its 3G TD-SCDMA

standard to next-generation LTE using the TDD version of LTE. China Mobile is

keen to ensure the availability of inter-operable devices that can support both

versions. On the other hand, other operators including Verizon, Vodafone and

most other mobile operators will use the FDD version.

Baburajan K

However, the silver lining is that chipset suppliers including ST-Ericsson

and Qualcomm are developing equipment capable of supporting both FDD and TDD

flavours of the LTE technology in a single device. A strong policy would have

prompted the industry to avoid such problems.

China Mobile feels that the current LTE trials are a step towards the goal of

developing a single device capable of operating on TD-LTE technology in the case

of unpaired spectrum or LTE FDD technology in the case of paired spectrum. The

recent laboratory tests have proven that the technology is capable of operating

effectively in both unpaired (TDD) as well as paired (FDD) spectrum.

In a welcome move, the GSMA and seventeen leading mobile operators and

vendors will implement a cross-industry standard for a universal charger for new

mobile phones.

The initiative is aimed at adopting a common format for mobile phone charger

connections and energy-efficient chargers. This may help in reducing 50 percent

standby energy consumption, and eliminating 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers.

And, customers will become the king as the GSMA-lead initiative is expected to

enhance their experience by simplifying the charging of mobile phones. By 2012 a

universal charging solution (UCS) will be available in the global market and

will use micro-USB as the common universal charging interface.

Hope the world will have less standardization and interoperability issues

over a period of time. If we could resolve such issues at the earliest, we can

save billions.

baburajank@cybermedia.co.in