TheStar.com | Business | Telus considers dumping its `Betamax’ of wireless networks:

With more wireless competition looming, executives at Telus Corp. are believed to be mulling a pricey swap of the firm’s network technology in a bid to offer subscribers a bigger selection of mobile devices and grab a larger slice of lucrative international roaming fees.

In the wireless equivalent of moving from Betamax to VHS, Telus executives are considering adopting new technology “as early as this year,” industry sources say… The idea “has been presented at the board level and is being actively considered,” said one source familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified. The source cautioned that there were no guarantees Telus will go ahead with a changeover, which analysts say could cost about $500 million.

A number of CDMA operators worldwide have been switching to the GSM camp the last few years, including Brazil’s Vivo and Reliance in India. Meanwhile Korean operators SK Telecom and KTF have shifted their focus to WCDMA and HSDPA, and Verizon Wireless, the biggest operator in the US, has said it will use LTE (a product of the GSM world), for its next-generation network, rather than Qualcomm’s UMB technology.

What’s driving these changes? A desire for more competitive handset and network equipment pricing, for starters. But perhaps the perception of Qualcomm, and its position as the single standard-setter for CDMA technologies, isn’t helping matters either.

Interesting trend to watch, this one.