More from China:
BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- Qualcomm Inc. late Wednesday said it thinks the
number of users of code division multiple access, or CDMA,
wireless-communications technology will reach 20 million by the end of
this year.
"CDMA is the fastest-growing wireless technology," Jeffrey Balk,
Qualcomm's vice president of marketing, told reporters in Beijing.
In the U.S., there are twice as many CDMA subscribers than global
satellite mobile, or GSM, subscribers, he added.
However, debates over global standards for the next generation of
mobile telephones are holding back what potentially could be even faster
growth for the technology, Balk said. In particular, he added,
government regulatory bodies are preventing fair competition by not
letting consumers decide among the various systems available.
"We want a level playing field for the technology rather than a
government mandate of technology," Balk said.
San Diego-based Qualcomm is a pioneer in the CDMA standard. Qualcomm
and other proponents of the technology argue that CDMA systems will
allow providers to make a smoother and more cost-effective transition to
the next generation of wireless technology. CDMA technology, unlike GSM
systems, will allow for high-speed data transmissions needed for the
multimedia applications that will characterize the wireless standard of
the future, they say.
The most important market for wireless technology companies is Asia,
which has become a battleground for GSM and CDMA advocates, Belk said.
"Asia has a quenchless thirst for communication," Belk said. "Asia
has had some difficulties but telecoms have continued to grow. We're a
long way from saturating the market."
In particular, China could soon be the No. 1 market for wireless
technology and is already the main market for many mobile phone
companies, he added.
According to China's Ministry of Information Industry, mobile phone
users reached 20.1 million at the end of August, an increase of 6.8
million from the year-earlier period. China ranks third behind the U.S.
and Japan in the number of mobile phone users.
"China could be a key pivotal point in Asia because of the quantity
of people who use wireless here," Belk said.
In China, however, the GSM standard is widely used. CDMA systems are
only under trial operations in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Guangzhou.
Qualcomm's handset sales in China "are not substantive" because of this
limitation, said Belk.
Qualcomm is trying to persuade Chinese authorities to allow greater
use of the CDMA standard as a way of meeting the country's explosive
demand for wireless services.
CDMA systems have three to four times the capacity of GSM systems and
10 to 15 times that of analog systems, Belk said.
Since 1990, the average growth rate of mobile phone users in China
has been about 160%, according to government figures. China expects to
have 50 million mobile phone users by the turn of the century.
-By I-Chun Chen; 8610 6532-6652; ichen@ap.org |
