The CDMA2000 Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) has announced the rapid uptake of cdma2000 in India, the world's fastest-growing wireless communications market.
This growth is coming from the aggressive sale of services from six cdma2000 operators: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), HFCL Infotel Ltd., Mahangar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), Reliance Infocomm, Shyam Telecom and Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL).
cdma2000 consistently proves to be the most economical and flexible solution for differentiated services -- from enabling the all-important entry-level (pre-paid) voice communication to the voice/video/data 'triple-play' -- with an unsurpassed variety of cdma2000 handsets that have garnered the largest share of shipments into India.
'The proliferation of cdma2000 technology in India makes logical sense,' said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG.
'Looking solely at the wide variety of entry-level handsets, it stands to reason that cdma2000 will grow in lock step with the market itself. In fact, as an emerging market, India is a perfect showcase for cdma2000's ability not just to bridge the digital divide, but to do so with the world's most powerful and comprehensive solution that economically converges telecommunications with information technology, consumer electronics and multimedia.'
The CDG reports that from July 2005 to July 2006, 12.7 million new users subscribed to cdma2000 services in India, attaining a cumulative subscriber base of 35.2 million.
In the same period, cdma2000 maintained its 30% market share, while the total India subscriber base grew to 112 million users.
In July 2006, over 1.59 million new users subscribed to CDMA, with Reliance adding the bulk of the subscribers after signing up 929,941 new users, up from 874,000 new (net) subscribers in June.