Comparison between WCDMA and CDMA2000 from Market share and economic aspects

The results of comparing the two systems are much clearer when economic aspects are taken into our account. For example, market share, economies of scale in the production of network equipment and end devices as well as the possibilities for international deployment，such as roaming. In this sector, GSM and its successor technologies GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/W-CDMA are dominant.

Data shows that Over 750 million subscribers, at August 2002, in over 175 countries clearly make GSM the leading mobile communication standard worldwide. In 2001, 81 percent of all new subscriptions were for GSM devices, whereas only 13 percent were for cdmaOne devices (EMC Database). The current subscription trend suggests that the gap between market shares for GSM and CDMA will continue to widen.

cdmaOne installations only really played a role in the Americas, particularly in the USA, and to a certain extent in the Asia Pacific Region, in particular in Korea. South Korea provided 70 percent of the cdmaOne customer base in the Asia Pacific Region. In June 2001 this was approximately 28.1 million cdmaOne subscribers which is roughly a third of the entire cdmaOne customer base worldwide. But this customer base is beginning to crumble as the carriers SKT and KT opted for W-CDMA as their 3G path. These two carriers together control 85 percent of the market in Korea.

Let’s look at Japan, NTT DoCoMo and J-Phone (with a combined share of the market amounting to 75.7 percent of all Japanese subscribers) opted for UMTS/W-CDMA as their 3G technology. Based on these facts and analysis, I have to say that WCDMA has the edge over the seriously competitive cdma2000 versions.