IT-Review

CDMA2000 Pomises Benefits of 3G

There are nearly 124 million CDMA2000 subscribers worldwide, and the number of users is growing at 4 million per month

94 carriers in 47 countries on six continents are operating CDMA2000 networks today, with an additional 34 networks scheduled for deployment this year. More than 650 CDMA2000 devices, including 88 1xEV-DO models, manufactured by 57 vendors are available on the market.

In Canada, Bell Mobility's wireless subscribers increased by 12 percent to 4.6 million, driving a 15 percent increase in revenues. A key driver of this growth is Bell Mobility's low churn of 1.3 percent — North America's best. From January 2003 to today, data revenues as a percentage of total revenue have doubled and data traffic has increased exponentially year-over-year.

CDMA2000 carriers in the U.S. continue to capture greater market share and have experienced phenomenal growth in their data-centric activities this year. The Sprint subscriber base increased by 897,000 in the second quarter, with average usage reaching 16 hours a month. The operator has a total of 6.9 million subscribers using its data services, with data contributing 7 percent to overall ARPU of $62 for the quarter. In August, Sprint launched the Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Phone MM-A700 by Samsung®, the first CDMA device in the United States to deliver streaming audio and video content from familiar sources such as CNN, FOX Sports and E! Entertainment.

Consumers using this first-of-its-kind device and service are able to access more than 600 streaming video and audio clips every day, covering the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment. Sprint is planning to launch CDMA2000 1xEV-DO later this year.

Verizon Wireless added 1.5 million new users to reach 40.4 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, and its churn dropped to 1.45 percent. The carrier launched several new data initiatives: it recently expanded its CDMA2000 1xEV-DO services, branded BroadbandAccess, to more than 14 major metropolitan areas and airports nationwide, covering 34 million POPS, with additional new markets and expansions planned by January 1, 2005.

In India, Reliance Infocomm grew to become the nation's largest wireless carrier, with a 22 percent market share, only nine months after launching CDMA2000 services in May 2003. Nearly 90 percent of the handsets on Reliance's network are data enabled with hundreds of Java applications and other services such as video streaming, mobile banking, wireless point-of-sale solutions, wireless data VPN for Enterprise e-mail access, vehicle tracking and many others. Capitalizing on the spectral efficiencies of CDMA2000, the carrier offers affordable voice services tomillions who previously had no access to communications.

Today, its coverage has expanded to 1,100 towns, rural and semi-urban areas, and will grow to 3,800 towns and cover 50 percent of the rural areas by 2005.

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