Deployments and Adoption of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Accelerate

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has reported that 22 operators in 17 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean have deployed or are building CDMA2000 1xEV-DO networks. Operators are seeing a significant demand for 1xEV-DO services, with the subscriber base growing at 40% per quarter.

Perry LaForge , executive director of the CDG commented, "CDMA2000 operators were first to market with 3G and now have at least a three-year lead in broadband services in the region. The time-to-market advantage has allowed them to differentiate their services, expand to new markets and grow revenues. With future enhancements, like Rev A and Rev C, they will also be first with all-IP and advanced multimedia capabilities, further extending their leadership in the market."

1xEV-DO was introduced in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2003, and today there are 12 operators in 9 countries, including Alegro PCS (Equador); Bermuda Digital Communications; Centennial Wireless (Puerto Rico); Iusacell (Mexico); Movistar and Movilnet (Venezuela); Movistar Guatemala; Smartcom PCS (Chile); Verizon Wireless (Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), VIVO and Vesper (Brazil).

Eleven more 1xEV-DO networks in the Caribbean and Peru are scheduled to be commercial this year.

"The success of 1xEV-DO worldwide demonstrates that there is a huge market for advanced wireless broadband technologies. The CDMA2000 industry is on a solid path to capitalize on these opportunities," continued LaForge.

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO was commercially introduced in 2002 in South Korea. It was the first wide-area network, wireless broadband technology to be deployed worldwide. Today, there are 36 live networks across 6 continents. There were 30 million 1xEV-DO subscribers at the end of 1Q 2006, and 6 million new users sign-up every quarter. By the end of 2006, there will be at least 73 live networks and close to 60 million 1xEV-DO customers.

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev A, an enhanced version of the currently deployed Rel 0, introduces techniques that support latency-sensitive and bandwidth-intensive applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP). Operators in the North America and Asia Pacific will launch Rev A this year. Rev B which will be available in 2007, further increases throughput via a multiple carrier scheme. Rev C, an advanced interface, will deliver ultra broadband data rates and higher spectral efficiency along with lower latency, making it ideal for enriched multimedia services. Commercial Rev C products are scheduled for 2008."

Posted to the site on 31st May 2006