EDGE

Not all 3G systems are based on CDMA. The TDMA camp is promoting a technology called EDGE, which originally meant Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution. As the name indicates, it was planned as an upgrade for GSM networks, one more step for operators who had already deployed the 2½G HSCSD and GPRS.

EDGE was never intended to be a competitor to CDMA-based 3G technologies. The plan was that GSM operators would deploy it in their existing networks, while building UMTS to take advantage of the newly licensed IMT-2000 spectrum. Because UMTS can handover calls to GSM, the two would even be compatible; many handsets sold in Europe would support both.

This changed when EDGE was adopted by the UWCC (Universal Wireless Communications Consortium), ...

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