3G: Standardisation in a techno-economic perspective

Abstract

The main question in this paper is: Which standard/technology will win the 3G mobile market? The most prominent contenders are WCDMA (also known as UMTS) and cdma2000. In addition, EDGE will also play a role as will (presumably) the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard3. Furthermore, other kinds of wireless solutions such as WLAN (WiFi and WiMAX) are spreading fast and may pose a threat to (or complement) the cellular mobile technologies. Such phenomena should not be overlooked. However, in this paper we will concentrate on 3G technologies and specifically on the two main contenders, WCDMA and cdma2000. © 2006 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg.