CDG Publishes EV-DO Market and Operators' Case Studies

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has reported that operators in Asia and the U.S. have seen a significant uptake of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO broadband wireless services and, as result, higher revenues and growth. In some markets, operators report that their 1xEV-DO subscriptions are growing at a rate of 230% per year and that wireless broadband subscribers spend 2 times more on data and 40-60% more overall than average users.

"CDMA2000 has had a 3-year lead in wireless broadband and is now deployed in 55 countries, serving close to 30 million users worldwide," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "What is most important is that 1xEV-DO provides the services that wireless customers want, which is reflected by the growing number of users and rising minutes of use, and delivers results for operators in higher revenues and improved overall performance."

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO was commercially introduced in 2002, and today, there are 35 live networks and 37 more are in deployment across 6 continents. The are now over 217 1xEV-DO devices, and 12% of CDMA2000 subscribers already using broadband, with the number of users growing at 4 million per quarter.

For SK Telecom in Korea, 1xEV-DO already accounts for over 40% of the operator's subscriber base. KDDI in Japan reports that more than half of new subscriptions to its WIN 1xEV-DO services are new customers.

In the United States, Verizon Wireless' data revenues in the 1st quarter more than doubled year-over-year, contributing US$872 million or 11.5% of all service revenues, up from 6.3% the previous year. Data ARPU reached US$5.58 for the quarter, up 79% from one year ago; data customers totaled 26.1 million, a 47 % increase over one year ago. Sprint Nextel's data revenue topped US$800 million in 1st quarter 2006, with data ARPU growing 21%, accounting for 11% of total ARPU.

In the 3 years since the introduction of 1xEV-DO, SK Telecom has signed 8.2 million users and data contributed 27.6% of its total revenue in 3rd quarter 2005.

"The commercial success of 1xEV-DO demonstrates that there is tremendous opportunity for advanced wireless data; being first-to-market provides operators a significant competitive advantage," continued LaForge. "With the next generation CDMA2000 technologies scheduled to be deployed over the next two years, operators will be able to maintain their lead in delivering an enhanced multimedia experience."

You can download the CDG white-paper on this subject from http://www.cdg.org/resources/white_papers/files/EV-DO%20Case%20Study%20May%2006.pdf"

Posted to the site on 10th May 2006