COSTA MESA, Calif., Nov. 6, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) today reported that KDDI is strengthening its technological and differentiated services lead in Japan by upgrading its CDMA2000(r) 1xEV-DO (CDMA 1X WIN) network to Rev A. This will enable KDDI to introduce delay sensitive applications, VoIP-based video telephony, and other real-time, symmetric and concurrent transmission voice and data applications with quality of service (QoS) features, while evolving its core network to a totally IP-based platform.
Rev A will give KDDI a one-to-two year time-to-market advantage in continuing to offer more compelling and better performing voice, multimedia and broadband data services to its consumer and enterprise customers. KDDI has already announced the availability of two stylish Rev A handsets from Toshiba, the W47T and DRAPE, to support the commercial launch of its advanced broadband technology services by December 2006. The Rev A network upgrade also will provide KDDI with a smooth upgrade path to EV-DO Revisions B and C to enable ultra broadband services within the next few years.
"We are pleased to see KDDI continue to embrace the competitive advantages that CDMA2000 has to offer," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "A backward and forward compatible evolution path is one of CDMA2000's strongest differentiators, and enables operators to sustain a significant market advantage over competing technologies. By folding in larger bandwidth implementations, OFDM-based air link technologies, and advanced antenna techniques, the CDMA2000 roadmap will sustain this competitive advantage, while retaining existing economies of scale and minimizing capital and operating expenditures."
Hideo Okinaka, vice president and general manager, Technical Standards and Spectrum Division of KDDI, stated, "KDDI will go on with CDMA and continue to develop it. CDMA can accommodate almost every type of service that our market would demand or we would be able to imagine. With further enhancements to the CDMA2000 roadmap, we expect this situation to remain so for the foreseeable future."
EV-DO Rev A has been standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) and has been enhanced to support a wide variety of symmetric, delay-sensitive, real-time, and concurrent VoIP and broadband data applications. Rev A's most compelling benefit will be an increase in uplink speeds up to 1.8 Mbps and downlink speeds up to 3.1 Mbps, as compared to EV-DO Release 0 that supports speeds up to 153.6 kbps and 2.4Mbps, respectively.
According to Fumio Watanabe, executive director and general manager of KDDI's Technology Planning and Development Division, "HSDPA offers benefits similar to the EV-DO Release 0 service that we launched three years ago, in 2003. Rev A will catapult us ahead of our competition, allow us to capitalize on the recent introduction of phone number portability, and sustain our lead in net 3G subscriber additions."
Also, as an IP-based platform, Rev A will allow KDDI to migrate towards an all-IP network that will support higher voice capacity, lower operating costs, faster development of applications and services, and the convergence with other IP-based fixed and mobile networks.
More information on CDMA is available at www.cdg.org.
About CDMA2000
CDMA2000 is the most widely deployed 3G technology, with 176 operators in 75 countries, including 51 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO systems, serving more than 275 million subscribers. Counting 2G cdmaOne(tm) subscribers, there are more than 335 million CDMA users worldwide. CDMA2000 has become the technology of choice for cdmaOne, TDMA, analog and greenfield operators, and is deployed in the 450, 800, 1700, 1900 and 2100 MHz bands. Nearly 1,460 CDMA2000 devices from more than 86 suppliers have been introduced to the market, including more than 350 1xEV-DO devices. More information on CDMA2000 is available on the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
About CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA2000 technologies. The more than 130 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 CDMA2000 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 CDMA2000-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.
The CDG logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2911
Note to editors
cdmaOne and WorldMode are registered trademarks of the CDMA Development Group. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.