China Experiences Increased CDMA2000 Subs
June 21, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
China's third generation (3G) wireless voice and mobile broadband service offerings are poised to replace fixed-line solutions, exemplified by subscriber adoption of China Telecom’s code division multiple access 2000(CDMA2000) 1X and evolution-data optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) mobile broadband services, according to the CDMA Development Group (CDG).
China Telecom offers fixed and mobile broadband data services under its "e-surfing" brand, in addition to its existing CDMA2000 1X voice and data services, said CDG experts.
The operator launched 3G CDMA mobile broadband services in more than 120 cities with plans to cover 324 cities nationwide by July 2009.
By catering to its enterprise relationships, leveraging its existing fixed-line customer base and focusing on offering mobile Internet services, China Telecom added 6.8 million CDMA2000 customers in the first four months of 2009 to reach a total of 34.71 million CDMA subscribers, according to CDG.
Since the restructuring of China's telecom industry in 2008, the country's three wireless operators invested in 3G networks across three technologies.
China Mobile plans to invest $8.6 billion to expand its time division synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA) network in 2009, while China Unicom plans to put $5.6 billion into its recently launched wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) network in 2009, said CDG experts.
China Telecom plans to spend more than $11.7 billion on CDMA network expansion and optimization over the next three years, while procuring 55 million CDMA2000 handsets in 2009 to support this growth, according to CDG.
The China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) expects 3G wireless subscribers in the country to exceed 500 million within the next three years as mobile broadband services replace fixed-line Internet services and expand to rural areas, experts said.
Furthermore, an MIIT report predicts that Chinese CDMA subscribers will experience a 30.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next four years and that EV-DO subscribers will account for 41.1% of China's 3G subscriber base by 2012.
EV-DO Rev. A delivers 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, according to CDG.
China's Internet penetration rate at the end of 2008 was at 22.6%, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, surpassing the global rate of 21.9%. China's Internet user base was at 298 million users with 279 million broadband users, while the mobile Internet user base doubled in 2008 to surpass 117 million users.
As 90% of all Internet users in China are also mobile users, there is growth potential for EV-DO services in the mobile Internet market, experts said.
Source: CDMA Development Group (CDG).