CDMA standard now has 475M subscribers

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced that the wireless standard now had about 475 million subscribers worldwide, with most of the growth coming from emerging markets.

The 3G standard, which is used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in the United States, grew at pace of 15.7 percent between September 2007 and September 2008, according to the group. The Asia Pacific market makes up more than half of all CDMA subscribers worldwide, though the group said that in the North American region, the standard got 145 million new subscribers in the period, and that CDMA now accounts for more than 52 percent of the wireless market in the region.

By comparison, the GSM standard used by AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA in the United States with 120 network operators worldwide, has over 3 billion subscribers. Both standard groups have backed Long Term Evolution technology as the 4G standard going forward, though the CDG has also expressed support for WiMAX technology, which Sprint is pursuing.

For more:
- see this release

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