LaForge says 60 million subs by 2000, more if WLL is counted.
Some people are saying the WLL market is maybe four times the mobile market and CDMA is viewed as the technology for WLL. We haven't
begun to factor in that."
SINGAPORE, 1998 JUN 23 (NB) -- By Martyn Williams,
Newsbytes. The number of subscribers served worldwide by mobile
telephone networks based on the CDMA (code division multiple access)
system has just passed 12 million, according to figures announced by the
CDMA Development Group (CDG) at the opening of the third CDMA
World Congress in Singapore today.
Based on the current figures, which the group calculated by polling member operators, the CDG
said it expects the figure will rise to reach 18 million by the end of 1998.
"It makes us the fastest growing technology to market ever," said Perry LaForge, executive director
of the CDG, referring to the mobile telephony industry. "The growth rate is rapid. We're now in 35
countries with almost 100 operators," he told Newsbytes.
The rapid growth predicted will come thanks to a number of reasons, said LaForge. "Some major
markets like Japan, China, Brazil and others in South, Central and Latin America are coming online
and the growth of wireless local loop systems will field significant growth."
Wireless local loop systems use wireless telephony to link houses and offices to the fixed line
network, making use of the technology to connect the subscriber into the local exchange in place of
a wire line. Figures for wireless local loop users are not included in the figures announced today,
said the CDG.
LaForge also predicted CDMA system subscribers will number 60 million by 2000.
The figures announced are inline with recent predictions made by The Strategis Group, Inc. It said
CDMA subscribers will number 59.8 million in 2000 and 141.4 million in 2003. If realized, it will
make CDMA the second dominant wireless technology in the world, trailing GSM, which is
scheduled to have 213.4 million subscribers by 2000 and 364.0 million by 2003. The total number
of all subscribers in 2000 and 2003 is predicted to be 450.0 million and 693.0 million respectively.
The total number of subscribers using CDMA based technology could be even higher once wireless
local loop systems are factored in, LaForge told Newsbytes. "Some of the largest wireless local
loop systems in the world will be based on CDMA. Some people are saying the WLL market is
maybe four times the mobile market and CDMA is viewed as the technology for WLL. We haven't
begun to factor in that."
The CDMA World Congress begins today and runs until Thursday in Singapore.
Reported By Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com
(19980623/WIRES ASIA, TELECOM/CDMA980623/PHOTO) |
