What will Telecom do with CDMA network?

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rickcrawley

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#33235 4-May-2009 14:18

Once telecom's xt network is launched, what do you think telecom will do with it's old cdma network?

If i was telecom i would turn it into a wireless broadband network and have large data caps because all the voice and sms traffic would be going onto it's new xt network when people buy new handsets over the next few years and the reason there are low data caps on the cdma network is because it doesn't have the capacity because of the voice calls and sms traffic.

Ev-do rev a which telecom has can do 3.1Mbps download and 1.8Mbps upload so it would be useful for portable broadband. There aren't any telecom mobile or vodafone 3g broadband plans that have a 10 or 20gb data cap so maybe telecom's old network could have these high caps.

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Q300

7 posts

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#212107 4-May-2009 14:39

I believe that it is going to be operational as it is now until 2012. That means that really any major plans would have to wait until then.

I do quite like your idea of making it exclusively mobile broadband. There isn't much in the way of fantastic mobile broadband service in New Zealand, and that would be Telecom's chance to effectively seal pretty much an entire market.

Having said that, it could get messy from a product line up point of view - offering mobile broadband across two netwroks that aren't interoperable. Is there such a thing as a mobile broadband 'receiver' that operates on both WCDMA and CDMA (ie so it could go on both XT and the theoretical CDMA data network)?

n00dy

482 posts

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#212110 4-May-2009 14:44

The service CDMA 1x / EDVOrev A will remain as is, I beleive there are no plans for any sort of upgrade, maintainence only

sinner

35 posts

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#212122 4-May-2009 15:29

As with the 025 to 027 upgrade, there will be plenty of people who will want to stick with their current devices. No doubt a fair size of the population will take their time spending the money and transferring across to WCDMA. While this transfer/upgrade goes on, people will still need to be able to use their "old" phones.

paradoxsm

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#212125 4-May-2009 15:36

My guess is they'll run it to around 2012 as a standard mobile network and then switch it off

I assume there will be a big marketing push/upgrade and natural migration path to the new WCDMA path.

The high-speed data overlay EVDO has been utterly fantastic and I agree it could be developed more into a "Last mile" high speed data network that retains a seperate identity to the commercial WCDMA, rip out the EVDO gear from the main centres and thow it in the wops but it's been found* EVDO is very resilient to cell breathing so main centres may retain a faster speed in saturation periods.

* I have read and been told by some engineers.

tonyhughes

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#212127 4-May-2009 15:38

There will be loads of CDMA devices on it for a long time. Migration to the new network cant and wont occur overnight.

Telecom have announced the CDMA network would open for 5 years I think (possibly from their announcement last year??).

It is *already* a wireless broadband network, and many customers have siginificant investments in equipment using it, and I am sure Telecom knows it is not in their best interests to do anything that could siginificantly degrade the experience for good paying customers, though I am sure they will want to reap as much revenue as possible from the network before it is de/un/dis/anti/established pulled to bits.

NealR

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#212145 4-May-2009 16:29

The current and published plan is that the CDMA/EVDO network will remain operational until 2012 at which time it is planned to be decommissioned.

Decommissioned means turned off.

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rickcrawley

31 posts

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#212154 4-May-2009 17:01

wow that's a waste. maybe woosh or the government will buy it.

NealR: The current and published plan is that the CDMA/EVDO network will remain operational until 2012 at which time it is planned to be decommissioned.

Decommissioned means turned off.

richms

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#212167 4-May-2009 17:44

Why would they? By the time its up for switch off, there will be nothing worth using on it released, coverage will have deteriorated as more umts sites are brought online and the cdma sites reaimed/downpowered/removed to prevent interference and the freqs would be better used to make the umts network better.

The consumers hardware is the cheapest part of the whole system, so keeping the old network running vs giving out some new handsets (which will be a lot cheaper in 5 years) is just a false economy.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#212168 4-May-2009 17:45

rickcrawley: wow that's a waste. maybe woosh or the government will buy it.

Why is it a waste? By 2012 LTE will be around and WCDMA will be obsolete as well!

Bung

4549 posts

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#212171 4-May-2009 17:50

tonyhughes:
Telecom have announced the CDMA network would open for 5 years I think (possibly from their announcement last year??).

Time flies, that announcement was in June 2007.

"Telecom said it was committed to its CDMA network to the extent the company would guarantee customers their current mobile phones would continue to be supported by Telecom's network for at least the next five years." Emphasis on least.

Loftus

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#212193 4-May-2009 18:46

The is a path from EVDO to LTE, so by 2012 Telecom may have other options besides just decomissioning the network.

NealR

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#212207 4-May-2009 19:32

@loftus there is a path to LTE from most cellular technologies. Telecom have no intention of "upgrading" their CDMA network to become an LTE network.

It is worth noting that an upgrade to LTE is a case of installing a whole new network (except possibley application layer such as SMS) and giving customers a new device irrespective of the exiting network. This is what is known as a "network upgrade" or 'network evolution".

Don't get sucked into vendor hype about "ease of upgrade" stories.

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coffeebaron

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#212251 4-May-2009 21:37

They could give the network away to NZ Comms :) :)

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cws82us

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#212334 5-May-2009 00:42

i worked for the warehouse and one of the telecom reps the comes in says it be closed in 5 years times

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NealR

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#212358 5-May-2009 07:43

@cwc82us The announcement for keeping the CDMA/EVDO network alive for at least 5 years was made in 2007.

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