COSTA MESA, Calif.-CDMA technology adoption doubled worldwide in the past year, climbing to more than 65 million users by the second quarter of 2000, according to the CDMA Development Group.
With the deployment of third-generation services approaching, the CDG said it expects the demand for wireless Internet and information services to continue its upward momentum, substantially increasing CDMA technology’s global presence in the future.
“Operators on every major continent have chosen CDMA as their technology for 3G,” noted Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “In fact, two of Korea’s largest wireless operators, SK Telecom and KT Freetel, have announced that they are preparing to launch the world’s first commercial 3G services using cdma2000 as early as this year.”
According to the CDG, Asia remained the dominant region for CDMA technology, with 33 million subscribers as of June 2000. North America saw a 96-percent increase in CDMA subscribers during the past year, reaching more than 23 million customers.
Latin America experienced the strongest growth in subscriber numbers, increasing 346 percent since June 1999, followed by a 183-percent increase in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
