Global telecoms chip manufacturer Qualcomm plans to open an office in Johannesburg this month.
The engineers manning the office will provide technical support to sub-Saharan telecoms operators deploying Qualcomm`s technology, says Tom O`Neill, Qualcomm`s VP of business development.
The engineers staffing the office will keep telecoms operators advised on new features embedded in chip sets that enable telecommunication, provide assistance for technology deployments and debug network problems, O`Neill says.
Qualcomm holds patents for telecoms-enabling chips sets, including high-speed downlink and uplink packet access. These enable high-speed wireless connectivity that is comparable to fixed-line broadband, CDMA2000 1X, the first of the of 3G wireless standards to be commercially deployed, and universal mobile telecommunications service, a wireless standard that is deployed by operators migrating from GSM/GPRS-based 2G networks to 3G networks, the company says.
Prices slammed
O`Neill, who will head up the Johannesburg office, has expressed frustration at the lack of competition in the South African telecoms market. "I wish we had more alternatives [for our office] in terms of telephony, as Telkom prices are outrageously uncompetitive and Vodacom, SA`s largest cellular provider, is related to Telkom," he said.
He also dismissed Virgin Mobile`s promise of real competition into the local telecoms sector. "How will it manage that, when it plans to operate on Cell C`s limited network, and Cell C is dependent on Vodacom`s network where it does not have coverage?" he asks.
O`Neil debunks market myths that CDMA 2000 technology, which the second national operator and universal service access licensees intend to deploy, is obsolete.
He says CMDA2000 technology, which services 230 million telecoms subscribers, is still on an evolutionary path. It will soon go for 3.1Mbps, and from there go as far as over 10Mbps, he says.
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