The demand for affordable 3G services in emerging, developed, and highly competitive markets is fueling the expansion of CDMA450, two industry associations advocating the technology said in a statement.
CDMA450 is a 3G solution that combines next-generation CDMA2000 wireless communications services with network coverage using the 450-MHz frequency band.
The CDMA Development Group (CDG) and International 450 Association (IA450) said there are now 103 operators in 60 countries that have deployed or are planning to deploy CDMA450 services.
Of these figures, 67 operators in 36 countries are already offering commercial services to more than 12 million people across the world, and 36 networks are being trialed or deployed in 24 more countries, they said.
Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG, said the technology "satisfies" the demand for voice and broadband data services in low-revenue markets.
For his part, Vadim Belyavskiy, chairman of the IA450, said CDMA450 has RF propagation characteristics that optimize the delivery of 3G services to densely-populated urban areas where in-building coverage is important, as well as sparsely populated rural areas where extended coverage is essential.
CDMA450, the industry groups said, has proven to be flexible enough to deliver fully mobile or fixed wireless local loop (WLL) services to expansive geographic areas, such as in Tibet, and to small communities located remotely within the Andean mountains of Peru.
Most CDMA450 operators offer telephony and high-speed data services using CDMA2000 1X technology and up to 40 of them have selected CDMA2000 1xEV-DO to provide their customers with wireless broadband data services.
The CDG and IA450, jointly with operators and device manufacturers, said they have created a set of common requirements for entry-level CDMA450 devices to enable operators to aggregate purchases at volume discounts.
To address the ultra-low cost market, many of these devices will incorporate a single chipset solution to further reduce their cost by as much as 50 percent, they said in their statement.