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The companies Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nortel Networks and Siemens which co-operate in the CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) industry initiative today announced the open publication of the specification for the key internal interface in the radio base station. The CPRI specification for this key interface is the first in the industry.

The companies have, in 4 months, completed the CPRI specification ahead of schedule. The parties' individual objectives are to introduce products compatible to the specification on the market during 2004.

CPRI focuses on a 3G radio base station design that divides the radio base station into a radio and a control part, by specifying one new interface - the only and unique radio driven interconnect point within base stations. This will enable each part of the base station to better benefit from the technology evolution in its respective area.

The CPRI specification is openly available for the benefit of the wireless industry. Key benefits for Network Operators are the availability of wider radio base station portfolio with adaptability to all deployment scenarios with a shorter time to market. The CPRI specification enables base station manufacturers and component vendors to focus their research and development efforts on their core competencies. The CPRI specification allows for new architectures and is not limited by module dimensions or a pre-defined function split.

The CPRI initiative complements current activities in existing standardization bodies. The interface developed will be used for radio base station products in mobile systems.