CDMA2000 continues solid growth through 2011

COSTA MESA, USA: The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced its 1H 2011 subscriber statistics for CDMA2000 and EV-DO, showing solid growth due to the demand for high-quality voice and mobile broadband services worldwide.

In the first half of 2011, the number of CDMA2000 subscribers surpassed 614 million, an increase of 39 million subscribers during the six-month period (12 percent CAGR). Upwards of 93 percent of the net additions, or 36.3 million, were new EV-DO subscribers, reflecting a strong demand for mobile broadband services. Within the first six months of 2011, the number of EV-DO subscribers surpassed 185.9 million (24 percent CAGR). The total CDMA subscriber base worldwide was 615 million in June 2011, including a million second generation (2G) cdmaOne subscribers not yet upgraded to 3G.

The majority of the growth has come from the Asian region, followed by North America, Europe and the Middle East. Today, there are now 336 commercial CDMA2000 operators in 123 countries and territories.

"The demand for smartphones, tablets, routers and machine-to-machine devices has had a significant impact on the growth of CDMA2000 subscriptions, and specifically EV-DO device sales," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "The market is moving ahead quickly and isn't waiting for 4G coverage. LTE operators with CDMA2000 networks depend heavily on their EV-DO network to support their data traffic, and therefore have been fortifying their EV-DO footprints. Since most 3G infrastructure is amortized and reaches the most remote locations with high-quality voice and broadband data services, it will continue to be the backbone of mobile services for well into the next decade, while LTE coverage is being deployed."

The year 2011 was marked by several milestones:
* A dozen new CDMA2000 networks were commercialized.
* Up to 38 networks were upgraded to EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B to keep up with the demand for everything wireless. An additional 16 new EV-DO Rel. 0 networks were deployed in emerging markets.
* Ten EV-DO Rev. B networks are in commercial operation, up from three in 2010. Another ten EV-DO Rev. B networks are being deployed. Thirty EV-DO Rev. B devices from 14 suppliers are commercially available.
* CDG became a Market Representation Partner (MRP) for 3GPP.
* China Telecom became the largest CDMA2000 operator in the world, now serving more than 123 million subscribers, including more than 31 million EV-DO subscribers.
* Brazil announced its plans to auction 450 MHz spectrum for universal services.
* More than 529 new CDMA2000 devices were commercialized by 161 suppliers. The number of CDMA2000 device suppliers increased by 28, mostly due to the demand in China.
* Simultaneous voice and data communication services on EV-DO and LTE handsets were introduced.
* CDMA2000 versions of the highly popular iPhone and iPad were commercialized.
* CDMA2000 was positioned as a technology of choice for M2M services.
* The first 23 WorldMode devices with CDMA2000 1X, EV-DO and LTE embedded in them were commercialized.
* High Definition (HD) Voice over CDMA2000 networks was demonstrated.
* Sprint announced its plans to deploy 1X Advanced.
* KDDI announced its plans to deploy DO Advanced.

In 2011, the CDG has promoted initiatives to ensure that CDMA2000 operators remain successful in an increasingly-competitive wireless landscape. These initiatives include its machine-to-machine (M2M) special interest group, Global Roaming Hub (GRH) services and Device Aggregation effort.

The CDG believes that CDMA2000 will continue its growth trend well into the next decade, in terms of commercial networks, device selection, subscribers and revenue. Next year, the CDMA industry will commercially deploy the first 1X Advanced and DO Advanced networks to satisfy the increasing demand for mobile broadband network capacity.