savramesh 37 Report post Posted May 29, 2009 (edited) Economic Times 29 May 2009, 0004 hrs IST MUMBAI: India has become only the second country in the world to have more than 100 million CDMA-based (code division multiple access) mobile phone subscribers after the US, which has 157 million CDMA users, according to an industry body. While India overtook China to become the second-largest CDMA market, the country’s leading service provider Reliance Communications (RCOM) has become the second-largest CDMA service provider behind the USA’s Verizon Wireless, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) said here on Thursday. Tata Teleservices is ranked fourth in the list of top global players, behind China Telecom. It took CDMA, which competes with the GSM (global system of mobile communication) platform globally, six-and-a-half years to reach the 100 million mark in India after being introduced in December 2002. GSM is much more popular, accounting for 80% of the global market, according to its promoter GSM Association. While there are 475 million CDMA users in the world, GSM standard is being used by over three billion people. In India, the GSM user base is close to 300 million. CDG executive director Perry LaForge attributed the rapid growth of CDMA users in India to a wide selection of affordable devices and technologies offering CDMA voice and data services in urban and rural areas. “CDMA allows a rich telecom experience, especially on the data side, and we are confident that experience will only get better, especially as 3G arrives and we are able to unleash the full potential of applications and services,” Tata Tele MD Anil Sardana said. In March 2009, both RCOM and Tata Teleservices launched high-speed mobile broadband services. “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,” Mr LaForge said. Qualcomm, the makers of the CDMA standard, will bring the benefits of advanced CDMA technologies to India, its senior vice-president (India and South Asia) Kanwalinder Singh said. Edited June 10, 2009 by savramesh Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savramesh 37 Report post Posted May 29, 2009 India has 100 mn CDMA subscribers; to add 100 mn in 2 yrs Economic Times 28 May 2009, 2306 hrs IST NEW DELHI: India, which is already the world's second-largest CDMA market, now has 100 million subscribers using mobile telephony based on the technology and it is expecting to add another 100 million subscribers in the next two years. The CDMA Development Group (CDG) -- a trade association -- today said that there are now more than 100 million CDMA subscribers in India. "The country has added 50 million subscribers in India in just two years. Going forward we expect to add another 100 million subscribers in the next two years," CDG executive director Perry LaForge said. CDMA or Code division multiple access is a popular mobile technology. In India operators such as Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Siestema Shyam Telelink offer mobile services based on this technology. The other popular technology is called the GSM. Attributing this rapid growth to the availability of affordable devices and low tariffs, LaForge further said "Efforts led by CDMA operators, device manufacturers, technology enablers and the CDG 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savramesh 37 Report post Posted June 9, 2009 CDMA group sees 100 m new subscribers in India Sify Business 2009-06-09 08:41:31 New Delhi: Notwithstanding the fact that there are more number of operators moving towards offering GSM-based mobile services, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) has projected that India will have 100 million new CDMA subscribers over the next two years if operators are given adequate spectrum. Speaking to Business Line, Perry LaForge, Chairman of the CDG, said, "We think the CDMA subscriber base will grow another 100 million in two years. Both Tata Tele Services and Reliance Communications have reiterated their strong commitment to CDMA. They have been clear that the decision to implement GSM was really a matter of necessity because they do not have visibility as to when and what spectrum they will receive for CDMA. This situation needs to be corrected so that these operators can continue to grow wireless communications in this market. CDMA will flourish here in India if spectrum is provided." There are 100 million CDMA subscribers currently with Reliance Communications and Tata Tele both of whom are rolling out GSM services as well. Among the new players only Sistema Shyam has chosen to adopt the CDMA technology. 'Faster growth than GSM' Laforge said the growth of CDMA has been much faster than GSM. "CDMA started years after GSM launched (GSM started in 1995). After seven years GSM reached 10 million subscribers. CDMA launched in 2003 and by 2004 reached 10 million subscribers and by 2007, the fastest of all technologies to reach 50 million subscribers. We have now reached the 100 million mark just two years later. This is remarkable growth and CDMA operators have achieved 25 per cent of the market with just two operators competing against entrenched operators." However, LaForge said, for this growth to continue, operators will need to have spectrum to pursue competition on a level playing field with GSM counterparts. LaForge said CDMA operators are better positioned to offer broadband services. "With high-speed wireless Internet access now a reality in CDMA with advanced wireless broadband services such as Reliance's Broadband Netconnect+ and Photon Plus Services offered by Tatas, we see operators continuing to offer more devices, more services while improving their average revenue per subscriber. In many cases, the top wireless broadband operators in the world, in terms of performance, are CDMA operators. Examples include KDDI and Verizon. We believe this will continue to fuel CDMA growth here in India," said LaForge. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greatest 55 Report post Posted June 9, 2009 Very good review... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savramesh 37 Report post Posted June 10, 2009 Spectrum Shortage Forcing Switch to GSM Techtree Jun 10, 2009 1646 hrs IST Sentiment shared by most CDMA operators in country Lack of clarity when it comes to spectrum allocation is causing operators to move towards GSM, say CDMA operators. In a recent interview with CXOtoday, Perry laForge, founder and executive director of the CDMA Development Group said, "Spectrum availability is critical for CDMA. Operators need clarity about the kind of spectrum there are gong to receive and when. With availability of spectrum, operators will be able to approach device manufacturers for newer devices. It is a shortage of spectrum that is forcing CDMA operators to look towards GSM." This sentiment is further echoed by operators like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices. Both Reliance and Tata Teleservices were among the first CDMA operators in India, but problems in spectrum allocation have caused them to embrace GSM too. Reliance Communications has recently launched its GSM service, with Tata Teleservices expected to do so by the month-end. With Tata s GSM rollout, there will not be any pure-play CDMA operators left in India. S.P Shukla, president (wireless) of Reliance Communications also cites the lack of clarity in spectrum allocation as the reason why operators have had to consider GSM as an alternate. Anil Sardana, MD of Tata Teleservices, had also earlier said that the spectrum allocation policy caused the company to look at other alternatives. However, both operators have said that they still remain committed to CDMA. This situation needs to be corrected so that these operators can continue to grow wireless communications in this market. CDMA will flourish here in India if spectrum is provided," said LaForge. "Both Tata Tele Services and Reliance Communications have reiterated their strong commitment to CDMA. They have been clear that the decision to implement GSM was really a matter of necessity because they do not have visibility as to when and what spectrum they will receive for CDMA." There are currently 100 million CDMA subscribers in India and the CDMA Development Group (CDG) expects to add 3 million subscribers per month. In a recent statement, CDG said India will have a further 100 million new CDMA subscribers in the next two years, provided operators are offered sufficient spectrum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
srk006 21 Report post Posted June 10, 2009 ...there will not be any pure-play CDMA operators left in India.... What about MTS then? Its only on CDMA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savramesh 37 Report post Posted June 10, 2009 ^^^ do they (MTS) have gsm license too ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
srk006 21 Report post Posted June 10, 2009 seems Shyam-Sistema have also got GSM license for Rajasthan circle alone. But AFAIK even in Rajasthan they operate only in CDMA. Here is it Rajiv Mehrotra, chairman of Shyam Telecom, said,"We have a GSM licence in Rajasthan. From http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/05/22010102/GS...or-Sistema.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
