By CNET Networks, 15 August 2002 08:54
NEWS By Ben Charny Lucent Technology has signed a second company to help meet its expected demand for a faster generation of wireless modems for laptops and handheld devices. The wireless telephone network equipment maker struck a deal this week with Novatel Wireless to develop and supply modem cards that use UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). UMTS is designed to increase the capacity of a cell phone network for voice calls and data downloads between 144Kbps and 2Mbps. UMTS has emerged as the leading standard that carriers are adopting for the next generation of wireless networks that are still in the process of being built. The new networks are expected to be able to handle more phone calls at once and create wireless web services that rival those of broadband companies. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo already uses UMTS to power its cell phone network in specific areas of the country. US carriers AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile all intend to build networks using UMTS, also known as wideband CDMA, in the next few years. Many analysts believe that for these 3G, or third generation, phone networks to be successful, they will have to become popular first with businesses - as corporations might be more willing initially to swallow higher prices for advanced services than consumers would be. The first company Lucent asked to help supply UMTS cards was Belgium phone maker Option. Ben Charny writes for News.com
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