India Passes 100 Million CDMA Subscriber Landmark

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) says that there are now over 100 million CDMA subscribers in India, making it the world’s second-largest CDMA market. Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices are placed among the top five CDMA operators globally, ranking second and fourth, respectively.

Since CDMA mobile services were introduced in December 2002, the cellular landscape in India changed rapidly. Efforts led by CDMA operators, device manufacturers, technology enablers and the CDG introduced an array of entry-level handsets to the market while tariffs dropped by more than 40 percent. Now, recently-introduced CDMA mobile broadband solutions are poised to have a similar significant impact on increasing broadband penetration in the country.

“The CDG is encouraged by the continued CDMA subscriber growth in India, and we are proud to have worked with operators and manufacturers to bring wireless voice and data services to over 100 million Indians,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “Efforts to bring a wide range of devices into the market have resulted in a tremendously rapid growth of voice telephony in the country. As we look to the next 100 million subscribers, CDMA mobile broadband is already satisfying the demand for affordable high-speed wireless data services, while CDG initiatives will further increase the selection of CDMA voice and data devices.”

In March 2009, CDMA operators Reliance and Tata both launched high-speed mobile broadband services, delivering average download speeds of 600-1400 kbps with bursts up to 3.1 Mbps and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps with bursts up to 1.8 Mbps. Reliance’s Netconnect Broadband Plus wireless broadband service is offered nationwide in 35 major cities, 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages, covering 80 percent of the potential laptop and desktop broadband users in India.

“Reliance has been a pioneer and the largest operator of a CDMA platform in India’s wireless sector. We have successfully launched and grown new segments in the wireless sector leveraging the unique strengths of CDMA technology, such as Unlimited and Bucket plans in voice usage, Wireless Broadband and anchored applications of PCO, ATM and FWP. We remain committed to further grow and serve our ever-increasing CDMA customer base through innovative applications, superior network quality and service and attractive value-propositions,” said Mr. S.P. Shukla, President Wireless of Reliance Communications.

Concurrently, Tata Indicom is offering its Photon Plus services in several large markets including Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, accessible via USB modems as well as routers.

“It has always been our mission to provide quality telecom services to subscribers in India and it is a matter of pride that we have played a role in this 100 million CDMA subscriber achievement. CDMA is a technology that allows a rich telecom experience, especially on the data side, and we are confident that in the years to come that experience will only get better, especially as 3G arrives and we are able to unleash the full potential of applications and services,” said Mr. Anil Sardana, Managing Director of Tata Teleservices.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), broadband penetration in the country was only at 5.5 million users as of the end of 2008, and PC connectivity continues to be a limitation in achieving faster growth. Recently launched mobile broadband services by CDMA2000 operators will have the same effect on increasing India’s broadband penetration as CDMA2000 1X services had on increasing voice telephony in the region earlier this decade.

Posted to the site on 1st June 2009