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Mobile & Wireless
CTIA: CDMA Revs Up (Part I of II)
Industry Group Sees Continued Growth, New Services
by Sean Buckley
With over 325 million subscribers worldwide, James Person, COO of the CDMA Development Group is upbeat about the future prospects of CDMA. In the first segment of a two-part interview live from the CTIA show in Orlando, FL, Telecommunications Magazine Editor Sean Buckley talked to Person about the momentum for EVDO applications, quality and the opportunity to bring services to emerging markets.
TM: To begin, talk to us about the state of the CDMA marketplace. What are some of the main highlights in this market over the past year?
Person: We currently have 325 million subscribers. That includes both CDMA 1X and EVDO subscribers, and we’re broadly distributed around the globe. We’re on six continents and we got some 200 operators in 80-plus countries. Over the last three years, we had 100 new operators launch service, and most of those operators have been in emerging markets such as Africa and Southeast Asia. As you can imagine, the focus is on people making their first phone call. Our member companies have addressed that market with entry-level handsets.
With EVDO Rev A, which is the fastest broadband 3G technology available today that downloads at 3 Mbps and, more importantly, upload speeds of 1.8 Mbps it’s a more symmetric service. The other thing with EVDO Rev A is that it provides QoS and low-latency, so carriers can now provide VoIP, instant messaging, and multi-player gaming.
TM: You mentioned emerging markets. Do you see a growing up tick for CDMA services in those markets, and what are the dynamics of those markets? Does it differ by region?
Person: It differs by country, but also by developing market. During the last year two years in Africa, there have been 21 new CDMA networks and only one GSM network. The regulators and the carriers have figured out in these markets to cost effectively cover Greenfield markets, CDMA is the right way to go because we have the networks, devices, capacity and an easy upgrade path.
In India, we’ll pass 50,000 million CDMA subscribers. Now, in India the government is looking at opening up the 450 MHz frequency band, which is a great frequency with a lot of commercially available equipment. Even in China, while it’s not officially sanctioned, there are estimates of 10 million subscribers on the network there.
TM: One of the promises of CDMA EVDO Rev A is better quality voice and the ability to offer VoIP services. How do you see these opportunities shaping up?
Person: We’re just seeing the beginning of the Rev A market rollout. Both Sprint and Verizon are neck in neck, covering 150 POPs in the U.S., and it’s available in six other networks. We got a total of 21 going broad here and we got another 21 being commercialized right now. Now we got 20 devices on Rev A, and those move into the handsets. VoIP is an advantage not only for the consumer in that you can integrate a lot of the other IP services (i.e. voice mail and web access), but also for the operator because it provides greater capacity vs. circuit switched voice.
TM: As all of these new services come on the scene, there will be an increased need for higher capacity backhaul solutions is ripe. Are you seeing operators demand new options for wireless backhaul?
Person: You got to provision your network appropriately. If you’re providing 3 Mbps downstream and 1.8 upstream, all of a sudden a T-1 line does not look so good. This is where when people talk about what’s the role for WiMAX? This is where WiMAX fits in well.
-End Part One-
CTIA: CDMA Revs Up (Part II of II)
Part Two Of The Interview Between Sean Buckley and James Person
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