December 3, 2007
Mobile convergence between the US and Europe
A follow-up to my earlier post on competing mobile telephone standards in the US. As it happens, just after I wrote, Verizon Wireless announced that it will test a GSM-compatible technology known as Long Term Evolution for its next generation mobile technology. The FT story can be read here.
This raises the interesting possibility that the US will end up converging on GSM standards rather than CDMA technology for fourth-generation mobile networks. AT&T and T-Mobile have already adopted GSM technology and Verizon’s decision, if it goes through, would leave Sprint as the odd one out.
It does not invalidate Jim Surowiecki’s original argument but it provides a twist. Europe’s mandate of a single mobile standard in GSM could end up bringing the US into its fold because GSM has become too powerful for US operators to resist. Verizon’s decision must have been influenced by the fact that it is 45 per cent owned by Vodafone, which uses GSM technology elsewhere in the world.
I don’t know what is going to happen, but it would certainly be good for consumers if the US and Europe both ended up employing a compatible technology standard for the next generation of mobile devices.
