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ZTE Corporation has reportedly signed a key contract to provide Skytel, Mongolia’s largest CDMA mobile operator, with the world’s first commercial CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev.A network.

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A is the first commercially-developed technology to enable high quality wireless VoIP. Leveraging session initiation protocol (SIP), it is said to achieve VoIP calls which are potentially of the same quality as PSTN calls. It is actually an enhanced version of 1xEV-DO Release 0, a broadband wireless technology which is already deployed on networks everywhere (including Skytel’s current network).

Rev. A is said to improve data rates, Quality of Service (QoS) and network capacity. With it, service providers can deliver IP-based applications and services such as video messaging and large file upload. Rev. A is also a key enabler for delay-sensitive services, such as push-to-talk and Instant Multimedia Messaging (IMM), as well as integrated voice and data services, such as video telephony.

The deal is a significant achievement for ZTE because it marks the first successful deployment of CDMA2000 solutions with EV-DO Rev.A for commercial use globally. The upgraded network is expected to be complete by the end of Q3 this year.

“ZTE is a strategically important partner for Skytel,” said Damdindorj Erdenebat, president of Skytel, in a news release. “This ground-breaking CDMA2000 technology, allows us to cost-efficiently pioneer 3G high speed internet and wireless data services in Mongolia. By improving the customer experience and introducing new services and applications, we hope to grow the business with a combination of new users and existing top-tier subscribers.”

The new network will serve subscribers in a number of Mongolia’s major cities including Darkhan, Erdenet and the capital Ulan Bator. Capable of enabling uplink speeds of up to 1.8Mbps and downlink speeds of 3.1Mbps (compared with EV-DO Rev.0’s respective 153.6kbps and 2.4Mbps), the new network will support a wide variety of data rich multi-media applications.

Specifically, Skytel’s network will be enhanced by adding EV-DO Rev.A channel modules to its existing CDMA2000 1X network. This means there is no need to change to the RF modules or the antenna feeder system.

ZTE´s CDMA technologies are currently deployed in nearly 60 countries worldwide by over 100 operators with a global capacity of more than 30 million lines.

For more information about ZTE visit http://www.zte.com.cn/.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.