MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Sept. 13, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA industry opened this year's 3G CDMA Americas Congress this morning by celebrating the tenth anniversary of the first commercial cdmaOne(tm) launch by Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong (September 1995) and the fifth anniversary of the first commercial CDMA2000(r) deployment by SK Telecom (October 2000). In his opening remarks Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org), noted that in the past decade, CDMA has established itself as one of the leading wireless technologies and become the platform for service innovation.
"CDMA is one of the fastest growing wireless technology today serving more than 270 million users in 70 countries across six continents, and the base is growing at 27% per year," said LaForge. "For the past five years, CDMA2000 has led the industry in the evolution to 3G and set the path for next-generation services that have revolutionized the wireless industry."
First developed in 1989, CDMA is a breakthrough technology that has introduced a number of innovations that significantly enhance performance and capabilities of wireless networks, including superior network capacity, IP-based wireless data and security. In 1999, CDMA became the facto platform for 3G when the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approved three CDMA-based air-interfaces for IMT-2000 standards, next-generation voice and data services, with WCDMA and CDMA2000 being the most widely adopted. CDMA2000 was the first IMT-2000 technology commercially deployed worldwide and is leading in rate of adoption, services it supports and revenues it generates for operators. To date, 127 operators in 58 countries have launched CDMA2000 services, including 22 who have deployed 1xEV-DO, the most advanced wireless broadband technology commercially available; 22 more are deploying CDMA2000 1X and 29 will launch 1xEV-DO. There are more than 185 million CDMA2000 subscribers and close to 10 million new users are being added every month. With CDMA2000, especially 1xEV-DO, advanced data services, such as broadband Internet access, video and gaming, have become major business drivers for the operators, generating in some cases over 25% of their revenue.
"The commercial success of CDMA2000 has demonstrated the true potential for 3G and provided a glimpse of what the future of wireless services will look like," continued LaForge. "By 2009, close to 1 billion subscribers will use 3G CDMA technologies to access the most advanced voice, data and video services and CDMA will continue to evolve to lead the industry into the next decade."
More information on CDMA and CDMA2000 is available on the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
About the CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030 or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA)