Next Generation CDMA Gaining on Leader
05/30(Wed)20:25
Amid foundering progress in global Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access
(W-CDMA) IMT-2000 service, the CDMA camp for the same next generation service,
led by Qualcomm of the United States, has been engaged in a strong rally, nearly
pulling even its rival, which was developed by major European telecommunications
giants.
Global market leaders of W-CDMA IMT-2000 service, such as Japan's DoCoMo, have
been engaged in postponing their service schedules one after another, but 24 CDMA
IMT-2000 service firms in 16 different countries, including Verizon Communications
of the US, plan to advance their service schedule to the second half of this year.
According to Merrill Lynch, the third generation telecommunication service is bound
to lose money.
The US investment bank issued a report recently which claimed European countries
$3 billion to 2.5 generation service. The report also said if it wants to jump ahead of
Europeans in third generation service that the US will have to spend $250 billion.
Amid the poor prospects of profitability, the Spanish government announced that is
W-CDMA service will be postponed until June of next year.
Verizon, the largest US mobile service provided, with subscribers of 20 million,
signed a contract valued at $5 billion with Lucent Technology to supply equipment for
CDMA-2000 service.
Another US company, with 7.6 million subscribers, jettisoned its W-CDMA standards
and opted for CDMA-2000 in May.
China's CDMA service is also burgeoning. China Unicom is making headway in
offering CDMA-2000 service aiming at 78 million subscribers, which accounts for a
market share of 30 percent, over the next five years.
A Korean think tank on the next-generation telecommunication industry issued a
report on CDMA W-CDMA, and earlier forecast a market share breakdown of 80 to
20 in favor of W-CDMA, has revised an early focus on market share to 60 to 40 in
favor of W-CDMA.
To cover the domestic CDMA market, LG Telecom has been making much progress
in forming a consortium to offer the CDMA service and the government is committed
to providing preferential treatment to the consortium.
Samsung Electronics plans to debut the world's first CDMA-2000 mobile handsets
with color monitors with streaming video capabilities in June.
(Cho Hyung-rae, hrcho@chosun.com)
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