Ericsson expands WCDMA portfolio

June 16, 2005

Ericsson will expand its WCDMA portfolio into new and existing frequency bands in readiness for mass-market uptake of mobile triple play and increased interest in WCDMA from new markets.

The expansion of the WCDMA portfolio into more frequency bands comes in the wake of recent mobile broadband service launches and a growing interest in 'bandwidth-hungry' services, such as mobile triple play (a combination of mobile telephony, mobile broadband and mobile TV).

By expanding the portfolio, WCDMA will be available for new markets and operators will be able to secure higher capacity networks and better coverage with lower operating expenses. Operators will also be able to supplement traditional fixed services, as well as mobile services, in both capacity-limited urban areas and coverage-limited rural areas.

Mikael Bäck, Ericsson Vice President, WCDMA, says: "We believe that through this strategy, WCDMA will be the leading access technology supporting mass-market services, such as telephony, broadband and TV."

To enhance capacity and coverage potential in the future, Ericsson's WCDMA solutions will also support the 900MHz and 2.5GHz frequency bands.

The availability of wider support for frequency bands will lead to a larger deployment of WCDMA, so operators will benefit from the large economies of scale of equipment deployments. Furthermore, by enabling widespread WCDMA and HSDPA megabit data rates, Ericsson plans to enable cost-effective, universal broadband services for mobile, as well as fixed, services.