India emerges world's second-largest CDMA market

With the number of CDMA users in India  having crosed 100 million subscribers, the country has emerged as the world's second-largest CDMA market.

Diclosing this, The CDMA Development Group (CDG) today said at CDMA round table that Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices are placed among the top five CDMA operators globally, ranking second and fourth, respectively.

''India is now the second largest CDMA market globally, and the ecosystem continues to grow with new operators, handset OEMs, content providers and application developers,'' said Kanwalinder Singh, senior vice-president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm India and South Asia.

''CDMA triggered the wireless revolution in India by making mobile communication affordable, and has played a key role in bridging the digital divide. Qualcomm, along with its partners, will continue to bring the benefits of advanced CDMA technologies to India for an enriched and differential wireless experience.''

The rapid growth of CDMA users in India could be attributed to a wide selection of affordable devices – ranging from entry level handsets to feature-rich smartphones – and the introduction of CDMA2000 voice and data services into urban and rural areas, helping to reshape the communications culture of India.

''CDMA is a technology that allows a rich telecom experience, especially on the data side, and we are confident that in the years to come that experience will only get better, especially as 3G arrives and we are able to unleash the full potential of applications and services,'' Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Teleservices Limited.

Ever since the introduction of CDMA mobile services in India in December 2002, CDMA operators, device manufacturers, technology enablers and CDG itself introduced an array of entry-level handsets to the market while tariffs dropped by more than 40 per cent.

"As a result, CDMA reached 50 million subscribers in India twice as fast as any competing cellular technology, and at the same time greatly increased voice telephony and wireless internet connectivity in India," CDG said in a statement.

It said the recently-introduced CDMA mobile broadband  was now poised to have a similar significant impact on increasing broadband penetration in the country.

''The CDG is encouraged by the continued CDMA subscriber growth in India, and we are proud to have worked with operators and manufacturers to bring wireless voice and data services to over 100 million Indians,'' said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG, as quoted as saying in the relase.

''Efforts to bring a wide range of devices into the market have resulted in a tremendously rapid growth of voice telephony in the country. As we look to the next 100 million subscribers, CDMA mobile broadband is already satisfying the demand for affordable high-speed wireless data services, while CDG initiatives will further increase the selection of CDMA voice and data devices,'' LaForge said.

In March 2009, CDMA operators Reliance and Tata both launched high-speed mobile broadband services, delivering average download speeds of 600-1400 kbps with bursts up to 3.1 Mbps and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps with bursts up to 1.8 Mbps. Reliance's Netconnect Broadband Plus wireless broadband service is offered nationwide in 35 major cities, 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages, covering 80 per cent of the potential laptop and desktop broadband users in India.

S P Shukla, president, wireless, Reliance Communications, said, ''Reliance has been a pioneer and the largest operator of a CDMA platform in India's wireless sector. We have successfully launched and grown new segments in the wireless sector leveraging the unique strengths of CDMA technology, such as 'unlimited' and 'bucket' plans in voice usage, wireless broadband and anchored applications of PCO, ATM and FWP. We remain committed to further grow and serve our ever-increasing CDMA customer base through innovative applications, superior network quality and service and attractive value-propositions.''

Concurrently, Tata Indicom is offering its Photon Plus services in several large markets including Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, accessible via USB modems as well as routers.

According to Dr. Mukund Rajan, managing director, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, ''There were a number of doomsday prophets who questioned the logic behind the introduction of CDMA in India. "The dramatic growth of CDMA in India, in the short span of 6 years, has led the surge in wireless subscriber additions in India and the huge jump in teledensity across the country.''

T Narsimhan, deputy CEO, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited, the new entrant to CDMA ecosystem, said, ''100 million subscriber is a landmark moment for the CDMA industry, and reiterates the huge potential for CDMA to grow in India. MTS is a hugely successful global brand and is committed to revolutionize the manner in which wireless telephony services are made available in the country. We stay committed to the continued explosive growth of CDMA telecommunication services in India.''

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), broadband penetration in the country was only at 5.5 million users as of the end of 2008, and PC connectivity continues to be a limitation in achieving faster growth. Recently launched mobile broadband services by CDMA2000 operators will have the same effect on increasing India's broadband penetration as CDMA2000 1X services had on increasing voice telephony in the region earlier this decade.

CDMA2000 is a widely deployed 3G technology, with 280 operators in 102 countries and territories serving more than 455 million subscribers. Counting 2G cdmaOne™ subscribers, there are 465 million CDMA users worldwide. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a widely-deployed 3G CDMA (IMT-2000) solution offering mobile broadband to over 112 million people on a wide range of devices. CDMA2000 has been chosen by operators in both developed and emerging markets, and is deployable in the 450, 700, 800, 1700, 1900, AWS and 2100 MHz bands. More than 2,110 CDMA2000 devices from over 115 suppliers have been introduced to the market, including more than 529 Rel. 0 and 118 Rev. A devices on 106 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0 and 62 Rev. A systems.