CDMA Gang Prepares for Battle
(12/04/2002, BWCS Staff) KDDI of Japan and LG of South Korea say they plan to set
up a global “CDMA belt” to attack the dominance of the rival WCDMA 3G standard. The
two operators say they will cooperate on technology issues and marketing initiatives.
In addition, they plan to establish an alliance with other CDMA operators that will
stretch into Australia, China, India, South East Asia and North and South America.
KDDI has already established a business cooperation deal with China Unicom, the only
carrier in the People’s Republic licensed to use CDMA technology. According to the
Chinese operator it currently has some 800,000 CDMA customers, a sharp increase of
280,000 on the figure for mid-March. China Unicom completed the first phase of its
CDMA network build at the end of 2001.
The backers of CDMA technology believe their systems will ultimately prove more
popular than the WCDMA system. Companies such as KDDI and LG argue that
cdma2000 systems can be rolled out faster and will cost less than its competitor.
Sprint Launches Necklace Phone
(12/04/2002, BWCS Staff) The latest mobile handset introduced by US operator Sprint
PCS is being marketed as a fashion statement as much as a communications device.
The 4NE1 is small enough to be worn on a strap around the users neck and can be
customised using a variety of handsets covers, ringtones and logos. The 4NE1 was
supplied by mobile handset vendor LG InfoComm. Since entering the US market in
1998 the South Korean company has established an 11% share of the CDMA handset
market.
While European operators and vendors have been offering customisable handsets for
some time the concept is relatively new to the US market. However Sprint like other
US operators is now keen to tap into the American youth market and to broaden the
appeal of mobile phones from their perception as business tools to being associated
with particular lifestyles and entertainment.
While services such as SMS text messaging and ringtone downloads have gained huge
popularity in Europe and Asia they have yet to gain wide acceptance in the US. This
has been in part due to the inability to send SMS’s between rival mobile networks.
However this issue is gradually being resolved with many of the major networks now
having inter-carrier SMS agreements in place.
At the end of 2001 Sprint had 15.8 million mobile subscribers, giving it a 12.1% share
of the US market. The three largest US networks in terms of subscriber base at the
close of 2001 were Verizon (29.4 million), Cingular Wireless (21.6 million) and AT&T
Wireless (18 million).
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