Wireless Trade Group Shuts Down

An industry organization aimed at fostering interoperability between TDMA and other wireless technologies said Wednesday that it was dissolving.

The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC) said that its board of governors decided to dissolve the group because it has achieved its objectives and because of the creation of a new group aimed more closely at next-generation technologies.

“After careful consideration, the UWCC Board of Governors have reached the decision that the Consortium will come to an orderly conclusion since technical development work on TDMA has been completed and further implementation of 3G technical strategies can be accomplished through the recently announced new organization for TDMA and GSM communities in the Americas,” the group said in a statement.

The statement was referring to the creation last week of a new trade group aimed at smoothing the transition of current technologies, including TDMA and GSM, to next-generation wireless services. The new group’s members include AT&T, Cingular, Ericsson, Lucent, Siemens, Motorola and Nokia and is to focus its efforts in the Americas, where there is more diversity of wireless technologies than in other areas of the world.

“With the recent announcement of a new organization encompassing TDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and WCDMA (UMTS) for the Americas, it is the logical next step for the UWCC to close its doors,” said Umesh Amin, Chairman Emeritus of the UWCC.

The UWCC was started in 1996 and most of the founding members of the new group also are on the board of the UWCC. TDMA was a widely-adopted technology in the Americas, but some vendors that embraced it for old-generation technology are moving to other technologies. For instance, AT&T Wireless is moving toward GSM-based GPRS technology for its next generation of wireless service.

The UWCC said that it would continue operations for a short time longer to ensure a smooth shut-down of the organization.

David Haskin is managing editor of sister site allNetDevices.com.

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