US : The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that within the past two months, worldwide operator investments in CDMA2000® networks, that have been publicized, approached US$1 billion. The CDG also reported that according to several analysts, by the end of 2006 operators worldwide will have invested up to $13 billion in CDMA2000 networks which require less base stations than other wireless technologies to provide equivalent coverage. Additional statistics are available in the market trends fact sheet recently posted on the CDG’s Web site at www.cdg.org.

“Based on the infrastructure investment numbers alone, CDMA2000 has proved to be capable of generating billions of dollars in ROI,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “With its two-to-three year lead against competing technologies to deliver next-generation services, these investments in CDMA2000 are pushing the envelope towards optimizing wireless telecommunications technology around the world.”

In the last two months, several operators have announced their plans to continue to invest in their CDMA2000 networks. On June 14, Russia’s SkyLink announced it would invest more than $100 million to construct its federal CDMA450 network. On June 27, Verizon Wireless selected Lucent to deploy CDMA2000 EV-DO Revision A (Rev A) technology into its nationwide network to introduce a range of new lifestyle- and productivity-enhancing services such as enhanced push-to-talk, messaging, video telephony, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). On July 7, India’s Tata Teleservices committed more than $226 million to expand its nationwide network into the rural areas of India. On July 18, SK Telecom in Korea announced it would invest more than $200 million to enhance its state-of-the-art CDMA2000 network. Also on July 18, Ukrainian Telesystems announced it would invest $180 million to deploy CDMA2000 1xEV-DO broadband services to enable consumers and enterprises in several Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk, to access the Internet and other fixed/mobile data services at speeds between 400 kbps to 700 kbps. On July 19, Verizon Wireless issued a supply agreement to Nortel for its new EV-DO Rev A broadband network. On August 8, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) invested $120 million to establish a nationwide fixed wireless phone network as a cost effective means to offer telephone and Internet connections to almost every village in India by next year.

When combined with further investments in advanced IP-based network technologies, value-added software solutions and multimedia content, CDMA2000’s stronghold on the worldwide proliferation of affordable 3G services becomes evident. A case in point is in India. Tata Teleservices is investing over $500 million in its Pan Indian CDMA2000 wireless business over a period of 12 months to expand coverage into rural markets, support significant subscriber growth, and introduce new and innovative value-added services.

According to Mr. Greg Young, chief officer of network, technology and value-added services, Tata Teleservices Limited, “Tata Teleservices is continuing to roll-out CDMA2000 coverage into the rural areas of India. We have commenced deploying new low-cost CDMA2000 base stations that use an innovative design from ZTE to reduce the capital and operating costs for serving rural markets. This CDMA2000 outdoor base station design is particularly well suited to the rural markets of India because it delivers improved coverage and performance while reducing establishment and operational costs. It is the ideal wireless solution for providing affordable voice and wireless data services to small and sparsely populated rural communities.”

“CDMA 2000 and its evolution path enable operators to cost-effectively upgrade their networks to provide advanced, revenue-generating services. This allows them to better serve their subscriber base while protecting their network investment – which also provides a critical time-to-market advantage for the CDMA operator community,” commented Doug Wolff, vice president and general manager, CDMA Nortel.

“These recent announcements prove that CDMA2000 offers a large and sustainable market with significant growth opportunities and a strong, future-proof evolution path that will help CDMA operators remain at the cutting edge of mobile communications for years to come,” said Mike Iandolo, president of Mobility Access Solutions for Lucent Technologies. “The CDMA2000 industry is in a strong position to win additional infrastructure contracts in this very competitive market.”

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