GSM Jumps Back to the 450 Frequency Band

Nokia and Ericsson have both returned to the GSM450 market, announcing plans to start selling infrastructure in the 450Mhz band, currently dominated by CDMA450. The GSM vendors had originally planned to deploy GSM services in the 450Mhz band as an upgrade path for existing analogue NMT-450 operators - but withdrew citing low demand. The CDMA vendors stepped in to the gap with deployments in several countries.

Moscow Cellular Communications had trialled a GSM450 network in Russia back in June 2000, but chose to deploy CDMA450 the following year. The lower fequency has the advantage that you can cover a larger area - although with lower capacity - and this makes it ideal for rural and emerging markets.

"Nokia believes that reducing the total cost of ownership for both affordable handsets and mobile voice services are the key when it comes to reaching the next billion consumers in new growth markets," says S

Posted to the site on 12th October 2005