LatAm CDMA Users to Reach 70 Million in 2006

The number of mobile subscribers in Latin America and the Caribbean using CDMA technology is expected to reach 65-70 million in 2006, Celedonio von Wuthenau, regional director for Latin America CDMA Development Group (CDG), told BNamericas.

This forecast represents a 15-20% increase on the 58.3 million CDMA users registered at end-2005. Of that total, there are over 20 million users of CDMA 3G technologies.

There are 34 Latin American operators commercially operating CDMA2000 1x and 12 new deployments in the pipeline, while there are 15 commercial CDMA2000 EVDO networks and 14 operators in the process of deploying the technology.

"In 2007 we should see 3G GSM deployments in some important cities, but in order for GSM operators to offer what CDMA2000 operators extend they need to deploy WCDMA or HSDPA technologies [which are more expensive]," Von Wuthenau said.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has approved a family of five standards that meet 3G service criteria: WCDMA (or UMTS), CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA, which are both based on CDMA technology, and UWC-136 and DECT+, based on GSM technology.

International experiences show GSM operators are selecting EDGE or WCDMA/UMTS technologies to provide 3G services, which has been the case of companies in the US and Telefónica (NYSE: TEF) in Europe. In the case of Telefónica, it is easier and less expensive to replicate this experience in Latin America than launch an entirely new technology.

In addition, WCDMA/UMTS is the 3G technology that offers the largest economies of scales, particularly in relation to the prices of handsets.

"Today there are more GSM users in the region than CDMA users and GSM technology has grown faster than CDMA. But in order for GSM operators to move to 3G they will have to adopt CDMA technology. So progressively, the region will migrate towards CDMA," he added.

BNAmericas.com"

Posted to the site on 7th December 2006