US : The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced today that CDMA2000® is rapidly expanding in Africa and the Middle East.  62 service providers in 38 countries within the region have commercially deployed or are planning to deploy 3G services using CDMA2000 technology.  As of 2006, there were more than 10 million CDMA subscribers in the region and this number is expected to more than quadruple within the next four years.  

The CDG, Africa CDMA Forum (ACF) and WANA, an operator that recently deployed 3G in Morocco, are hosting conferences in North and South Africa to showcase how CDMA2000 is continuing to fulfill the demand for affordable 3G telephone and broadband access in Africa and the Middle East.  The first conference, “3G: Enabling Telephone and Broadband for All,” is being held in Marrakech, Morocco, May 3-4, where the CDG will be congratulating WANA on their launch and overwhelming success in offering 3G CDMA2000 services. The CDG will also be participating in the “Winning with 3G in Africa” seminar in Johannesburg, May 7-8, where CDMA2000 operators and vendors will be discussing the benefits of CDMA2000 in the sub-Sahara region.

“The CDG is pleased to see the rapid expansion of CDMA2000 across Africa and the Middle East,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “CDMA2000’s voice clarity, broadband power, and lower cost structure make it ideal for the citizens and businesses of emerging market economies that want high-quality and affordable wireless communications services.”

 Globally, CDMA2000 is the leading 3G technology, serving close to 70 percent of all 3G subscribers worldwide.  It is by far the most widely deployed 3G technology in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.  Close to 170 of the 240 operators with commercial or pre-commercial CDMA2000 networks are in developing markets.  These markets already account for more than 50 percent of CDMA2000 subscribers worldwide and their share will continue to increase.  

CDMA2000 is an ideal solution to meet the growing demand for affordable fixed and mobile telecommunication services in developing markets.  It enables operators to provide cost effective voice and broadband access to the Internet and a broad range of value-added data services for consumers, government, education, and enterprise users in both dense urban areas and sparsely populated rural areas.  Studies have shown that CDMA2000 is more economical than 2G in the long run and offers up to a 23 percent cost savings over equivalent GSM/EDGE solutions.  There is a large selection of affordable devices, ranging from sub-US$30 handsets to PC notebooks, which have CDMA2000 1xEV-DO embedded in them to provide for wide area broadband access.  The strength of the CDMA industry’s ecosystem, which has generated substantial economies of scope and scale, the technology’s superior spectral efficiency and numerous cost reduction initiatives have enabled CDMA2000 to become the most economical choice for delivering 3G services for emerging markets..