time connectivity of pure packet approaches but allows for more predictable bulk data transfer. It has not, how- ever, gotten as much marketplace traction as GPRS. The CDMA world's version of 2.5 G technology is generally known as 1xRTT. This operates within the same 1.25-MHz channels as ordinary 2G CDMA voice calls, allowing packet data bursts in the 150-Kbps range. (Qual- comm positions this as "3G" technology, but that is a bit of an exaggeration; it is, however, part of Qualcomm's cdma2000 product portfolio.) CDMA net- works have largely been upgraded to "1X" technology-this typically required a single board change in the base stations, not a "forklift upgrade." Full-scale 3G Losing by Winning: Wireless License Auctions operation combines three channels and is called 3xRTT. Another variation, 1xEV-DO (data only), provides higher data rates within a given channel, at the expense of sharing it with voice. By 2004, 1xRTT had been widely deployed in the United States, Canada, and South Korea, the largest CDMA markets. Many Large Incumbents Were Left With Huge Debt The network operators that paid top dollar in the bubble-era license auctions could hardly be said to have "won" the auctions. Instead, they were saddled with such debt that they had trouble actually building out the 3G networks; indeed, the parent companies, some of them established former PTTs, suddenly found themselves mired in far more debt than they could comfortably handle. For example, France Telecom's total debt in 2004 was more than $60 bil- lion-much of this for its forays into mobile telephony, such as its Orange net- work, the second largest mobile operator in Europe. And Deutsche Telekom's $65 billion debt, while counterbalanced by a somewhat stronger equity position than its French neighbor, was largely incurred by its T-Mobile operations. Telephone companies were traditional "widows and orphans" stocks. Although such sinecures can no longer be expected in an increasingly competi- tive world, the wireless telephone business has been a toug