Monday, January 11, 2010

Different types of 3G networks

ITU Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 specifies five types of 3G radio interfaces:



  • IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread, also known as UTRA FDD including WCDMA in Japan, ARIB / DoCoMo recommendation. UMTS is developed by 3GPP.

  • IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-carrier, also known as Cdma2000 (3X) developed by 3GPP2. IMT-2000 CDMA2000 includes 1X components, like cdma2000 1X EV-DO.

  • IMT-2000 CDMA TDD, also known as UTRA TDD and TD-SCDMA. TD-SCDMA is developed in China and supported by TD-SCDMA Forum

  • IMT-2000 TDMA Single Carrier, also known as UWC-136 (Edge) supported by UWCC

  • IMT-2000 DECT supported by DECT Forum.

    For more information about 3G air interfaces, download ITU "What is IMT-2000" presentation (2.5Mb!). Note that page 3 does not classify CDMA2000 1X as 3G, but page 6 does.

    Some 2.5G systems (GSM GPRS, IS- 95B and CDMA2000 1X (?)) will be able to deliver 3G services, so it will be difficult for users to see the difference.

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