Developer keeps faith in CDMA

Hanoi Times - The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has reaffirmed its confidence in CDMA technology, despite HT Mobile abandoning the system.

The group, representing 140 operators worldwide, predicts the number of CDMA subscribers in Viet Nam to grow from 6.3 million now to 10.5 million at year-end and to 15.5 million by 2010.

Chungming An, vice president of CDG Southeast Asia, said: "HT Mobile’s switch from CDMA to GSM is a special case, not a trend."

An attributed the switch to the carrier’s inappropriate marketing, sales and services – not the technology itself.

HT Mobile last month revealed it will spend US$ 150 million to change from CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) to GSM (The Global System for Mobile Communications).

A company official, said: "We cannot endure further losses; changing technology is the o­nly option."

The Hanoi-based company, which debuted in January last year, has o­nly 200,000 subscribers at present, well short of the 1 million users it had hoped for by now.

The carrier cites the scarcity of CDMA enabled handsets o­n the market compared with GSM enabled handsets as driving the move.

CDG disagrees, saying "The availability of affordable handsets and new services such as EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimised) has other CDMA operators: S-Fone and EVN Telecom staying put."

"CDMA operators benefit from economies of scale with a wide range of suppliers and vendors," An said.

S-Fone’s general director, Ho Hong Son, shares An’s opinion, saying CDMA has a bright future in Viet Nam. S-Fone should increase its subscriber base from 3.7 million currently to 6 million by the end of the year, Son said.

"As a CDMA operator, we understand the difficulties that CDMA encounters in Viet Nam, such as the availability of handsets and limited international roaming services."

"But CDMA has unique advantages stemming from its broadband capacity such as EVDO and E-Video – services which GSM does not offer," he added.

S-Fone, a joint venture between local Sai Gon Postel and SLD Telecom of Korea, began operating in 2003 and applies CDMA2000 technology.

Of Viet Nam’s six mobile carriers S-Fone, HT Mobile and EVNTelecom utilise CMDA technology, while Viettel, Vinaphone and Mobifone prefer GSM.

At last count, the nation had over 30 million mobile phone subscribers, 6 million of which use CDMA.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, there are 2.5 billion GSM subscribers worldwide versus 500 million CDMA subscribers.