The international telecom industry's chief rulemaking body plans to hammer out a key set of standards for a new mobile-phone network that will let users talk and get messages from all over the world.
Members of the International Telecommunications Union started meeting with telecom regulators and industry players in Fortaleza, Brazil, this week. They are trying to decide which technologies to use for developing so-called third-generation, or 3G, phones.
The meeting is the latest in a series ITU initiatives for getting countries and tech companies to agree on a unified standard for sending voice and data over wireless networks. The participants hope to come up with all of their 3G standards by the end of the year.
"The aim is to have a true global roaming possibility," said Francine Lambert, an ITU spokeswoman.
Although some mobile-phone services currently cover several countries, as is the case in Western Europe, there is no network standard for worldwide service.
The ITU is pressing to have third generation mobile access available worldwide by next year. The technologies for providing the services already exist, the group said. It's just a question of picking a standard.
But getting the world to stick to a unified system hasn't turned out to be an easy task. In Brazil, the ITU will have to consider 11 proposals from companies and organizations all wanting their technology to form part of the standard for land-based 3G networks. The group has several more proposals from companies using satellite technologies.
Government officials in the United States and Europe also are pushing for their favorite technologies, because they want bigger profits for their constituent companies and standards that meet the needs of their local markets.
The ITU said it probably will use a combination of technologies. Companies want to see their technology chosen because of lucrative licensing fees.
