CDG Membership Expands To 30 Companies

IRVINE, Calif. -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) today announced the creation of a new working group within the organization to address a wide range of wireless Personal Communications Services (PCS) issues.

With the PCS broadband auctions underway, the new working group is charged with monitoring PCS technology requirements; developing Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) specifications for new PCS services; defining approaches for cellular and PCS network compatibility; and promoting the rapid deployment of wireless CDMA PCS networks and services across the country.

"The promise of anytime, anywhere communications will be fully realized only if existing and future wireless systems work together to provide consumers with easy-to-use services," said Terry Vega, vice president and chief operating officer, AT&T AUTOPLEX(R) Systems. "To deliver on that promise, the CDG is working to ensure interoperability between CDMA cellular and PCS systems. This network compatibility will facilitate seamless roaming and feature transparency, and create economies of scale for carriers offering CDMA services in both the cellular and PCS spectrum bands."

"When you boil down all the PCS research we've done, one fact remains -- customers don't care what frequency they use; they just want the call to go through," said Dick Lynch, vice president and chief technology officer for Bell Atlantic Mobile and a CDG board member. "For carriers, that means creating a seamless, nationwide network. Through the work being done in the CDG, and efforts like our upcoming 2 GHz CDMA trial with AT&T, we can make it happen."

As a basis for its work, the CDG is using the PCS derivative of the CDMA standard IS-95, known as PN-3384. This specification has been approved for ballot as an ANSI standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association and the Standards Committee T1 Telecommunications.

The CDMA Development Group also announced that 12 more wireless carriers and manufacturers have been accepted into the CDG, bringing the total number of member companies to 30. New members include Comcast Cellular, Allen Telecom Group, Alps, Audiovox, Comsearch, DataCard, Gemplus, Goldstar, Hewlett-Packard, LCC, Primary Access and Samsung.

To qualify for membership, companies must demonstrate a substantial commitment to the development and/or deployment of CDMA cellular or PCS systems, and contribute significant technical and business resources to support the CDG's work.

"The CDG is an exceptional organization composed of the leading telecommunications companies in the world," said Don Harris, president of Comcast Cellular. "We are pleased to be part of this team, and we look forward to the continued acceleration of CDMA service and technology development."

In addition to welcoming 12 new member companies, the CDG has elected three new directors to its executive board. The new directors are Ray Dombrowski, vice-president-Engineering and New Technology for Comcast Cellular; Keith Paglusch, vice-president-Engineering and Network Operations for Sprint Cellular; and Clyde Smith, vice-president-Technology and Network Planning for ALLTEL Mobile.

The CDMA Development Group was formed to foster the development of open standards that will spur the market introduction of CDMA voice and data services. Currently, a dozen technical teams and more than 200 individuals are working to define technical specifications for CDMA features and services. CDMA is an all-digital technology designed to provide improved call quality, enhanced privacy and a rich set of new wireless features.