CDMA Tops 200 Million Users

The CDMA Development Group announced that CDMA added nearly 13.5 million subscribers in 1Q 2004, reaching 202 million users worldwide. In one year, from March 2003 to 2004, the CDMA subscriber base grew by a record 43 million users, or 31 percent, representing the highest growth for any leading cellular technology, and significantly higher than the 21percent gain for the whole industry. CDMA2000® further strengthened its leadership in 3G by adding 13 million users in the quarter to total 86.2 million, including 6.6 million CDMA2000 1xEV-DO users.

Asia Pacific is the largest region for CDMA with 84.4 million users. The base is expanding at 44 percent annually, driven by continued growth in China and phenomenal advancements in India. China has more than 20 million CDMA users and in India, where there is now widespread deployment of CDMA2000, the CDMA base grew by 745 percent in 2003 and reached 9.3 million users in March 2004.

“CDMA2000 operators reported yet another quarter of strong gains in net adds and revenue,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “CDMA2000 delivers results across all regions and markets, both developing and mature. We expect that this trend will continue with the significant growth of CDMA2000 in key markets such as China, India and the Americas.” Press Release.