Lucent intros data centric applns for CDMAs

Zia Askari

NEW DELHI: Lucent technologies has taken the CDMA technology another notch up in the value chain by introducing EV-DO (Data Only) in India. At present, Reliance Infocomm is using the technology on a test basis and is likely to provide data-centric application on the same soon.

"This technology enhances the current CDMA data solutions and provides peak data rates upto 2.4 Mbps. So this has enough capability to support networked business applications that are currently available and used by enterprises. We are also positioning this to support applications like video conferencing and multimedia-focussed applications such as location-based services as these emerge in both the enterprise and the consumer sector as well," explained business development & marketing VP at Lucent, Geeta Chaudhary.

The company is quite bullish on its India plans with regards to a technology like this and aims to provide the same technology to different mobile service operators in the region.

"As of now Reliance is using the technology on a test basis but it is going to provide this technology to its subscribers with its networks very soon. In the same way we are also working closely with the Tata group for the implementation of this technology, so the Indian operators are quite upbeat about this," she added.

"Though no date has been finalized for this launch, but we would be launching data-centric applications based on this technology on a national scale very soon," informed corporate communication head at Reliance, Jimmy Mogal.

"At present the connectivity speeds hover around the 156 kbps mark and using this EV-DO technology speed of upto 2.4 mbps is possible and this is a 16 times jump. So now more and more data intensive applications can be made available on mobile devices," Chaudhary informed.

Lucent is already providing the same technology to Verizon in US and also to KTF in Korea. Lucent's association with reliance would mark its entry into the Asian region as far as this technology is concerned.

"In the Asian region there are a lot of operators that are using this technology on a test basis. We are also working closely with some Chinese operators in the same technology, so there is a lot of activity going on in this area and we hope to increase the use of this technology throughout the Asian region in the coming months," she added.

According to CDMA Development Group (CDG), a research organization focussing on CDMA - at present more than seven manufacturers of mobile devices provide DO devices and around 39 handset models are available that are DO compliant on a worldwide basis.

(CyberMedia News Service)