Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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WCDMA vs. CDMA2000 1X EV-DO, who is winning the 3G war?
September 19, 2003
The GSM family of network technologies dominates the wireless market
with more than 850 million subscribers, far more than the rival CDMA family
of technologies, with only about 150 million subscribers. However, the
next generation of the CDMA-family, CDMA2000 1X EV-DO, has caught on much
faster than the next iteration in the GSM-family, WCDMA. Technology market
research firm ABI closely tracks the developments in these network technologies
and estimates that currently there are about 20 live WCDMA and CDMA2000
1X EV-DO networks competing for subscribers.
The 3G revolution began with the launch of the FOMA/WCDMA network by
NTT DoCoMo in 2001 with a few additional carriers following since then.
In the CDMA camp, SK Telecom was the first operator to launch a CDMA2000
1X EV-DO network in early 2002.
After billions of dollars spent on 3G licensing, most European operators
have delayed their plans to launch WCDMA networks until technical and
market hurdles are overcome. Unlike the handset interoperability issues
with the GSM to WCDMA upgrade, CDMA2000 1X EV-DO handsets are backward
compatible, thereby easing the transition to advanced networks. This improves
the overall user experience initially as it enables seamless roaming for
areas not yet upgraded while mitigating the financial burden on wireless
carriers. ABI therefore estimates that the adoption rate will remain higher
among CDMA users for EV-DO networks, though over time, WCDMA subscribers
will out number those for EV-DO.
This trend has been witnessed in Asia, with NTT DoCoMo in Japan and SK
Telecom in South Korea. NTT DoCoMo had a rough time gathering customers
in the last 18 months, with the situation only turning around in March
of this year. By June 2003, the operator reported 530,000 users-about
a third of what SK Telecom achieved in the same time period with their
CDMA 1X EV-DO network. Currently, SK telecom has nearly 1.5 million EV-DO
subscribers.
"This trend will reverse, as technical hurdles are crossed and operators
turn the switch on WCDMA networks in Europe," explains ABI analyst Kenil
Vora. "Over time, WCDMA subscribers will out number those for EV-DO networks,"
he adds. ABI does not expect any additional large-scale launches for the
remainder of 2003.
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3G Motorola A920
