10 Companies Join CDMA Development Group Including Ericsson

The CDMA Development Group, a trade association that encourages development, implementation and use of CDMA2000 and other complementary wireless solutions, announced that 10 new member companies have joined the group since first quarter of 2010.

According to company officials, the CDG added Ericsson; four operators namely Alaska DigiTel, Movicel Angola, Open Mobile and WisconsinRSA ( News - Alert)7; machine-to-machine 'M2M' service provider Kore Telematics; network equipment vendor AirHop Communications; and device manufacturers namely SIM Technologies, Sonim Technologies and Teleepoch.

Perry LaForge (News - Alert), executive director of the CDG, said in the release that the new member compnies have taken leadership roles in several of Group's initiatives, in order to advance as well as promote CDMA2000 devices, networks and services.

For those unaware, CDMA2000 is a widely deployed 3G technology and is deployable in the 450, 700, 800, 1700, 1900, AWS and 2100 MHz bands. The CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a widely-deployed 3G CDMA solution providing mobile broadband service to more than 142 million people across a wide range of devices.

According to CDG, the CDMA2000 has been chosen by operators in both developed and emerging markets. Till date, over 2,320 CDMA2000 devices from more than 124 suppliers have been introduced to the market, including more than 550 Rel. 0 and 225 Rev. A devices on 115 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0 and 83 Rev. A systems.

Ericsson (News - Alert), a provider of telecommunications equipment that recently completed the purchase of Nortel Networks' CDMA business, will be participating on the CDG's executive board, advocacy council and global strategy team, in order to help set the CDG's strategic direction and priorities.

Rima Qureshi, senior vice president and head of business unit CDMA mobile systems at Ericsson, said, 'We serve more than 50 CDMA2000 network operators worldwide with our extensive portfolio of products and services and look forward to working with the CDG and its members to support this important industry segment.'

Kore Telematics (News - Alert), a machine-to-machine service provider, has joined the CDG's Smart Wireless Modules and Services Special Interest Group 'SIG' that aims to enable its members and their customers in various vertical industries to utilize the data capabilities of CDMA2000 and its next-generation technologies.

Device manufacturers, SIM Technologies and Teleepoch, are supporting the CDG-led Open Market Handset 'OMH' initiative, in order to reduce inventory and distribution costs for a wider range of CDMA handsets. This in turn will provide more choice for consumers.

According to the CDG, it has undertaken several initiatives focused on increasing CDMA2000's global subscriber and revenue bases worldwide. Some of these initiatives include OMH, CDMA Roaming Hubs to expand global roaming, the Smart Wireless Modules and Services SIG, EV-DO and 1X Advanced network enhancements and seamless interoperability between EV-DO and LTE and MobileWiMAX ( News - Alert)networks.

Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Alice Straight