SAN DIEGO, Nov. 10, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the 2009 3G CDMA Americas Regional Conference today, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) announced a new initiative aimed at making international voice, SMS, and data roaming easier for operators. The CDMA Roaming Hub (CRH) will offer an accelerated, multi-lateral, multi-service roaming implementation framework through centralized third-party service providers. The CRH model builds on the success of today's CDMA2000(R) roaming service providers by covering all critical aspects of CDMA roaming under one umbrella and allowing immediate access to many roaming partners through a single roaming agreement. This will provide CDMA carriers with an alternative to the current bi-lateral roaming implementation model, enabling the rapid expansion of CDMA roaming to many emerging markets.
"While international CDMA roaming enjoys healthy growth both in terms of coverage and traffic, the established bi-lateral roaming model leaves room for improvement," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group. "Now that there are more than 300 CDMA operators worldwide, the CRH concept will enable CDMA2000 operators to quickly expand their international roaming coverage and increase their resulting revenues."
The main objective of the CRH initiative is to develop a comprehensive set of requirements which will specify the components necessary to launch successful CRH services. In addition to streamlining roaming agreement management, provisioning, testing, and risk analysis, the CRH will offer faster time-to-market, cost reductions, and consolidated wholesale billing. CDMA Roaming Hubs will enable many new carriers in emerging markets to offer international roaming, and will also be a viable alternative for established CDMA2000 carriers to expand their roaming footprint into new markets. While initial implementations will focus on CDMA2000, the CRH roadmap may include multi-mode roaming services, allowing participating carriers to implement roaming to GSM, WCDMA, and 4G networks in the future.
"Operators have played a key role in defining the requirements for the roaming hub," LaForge continued. "The CDMA roaming vendors have also been instrumental in contributing commercial and operational information that will ensure the roaming hub concept will lead to commercially-viable services."
The first CDMA Roaming Hub service offering is expected to be commercialized in the first half of 2010, with more expected to follow.
More information on CDMA is available at www.cdg.org.
About CDMA2000
CDMA2000 is a widely deployed 3G technology, with 308 operators in 116 countries and territories serving 494 million subscribers. Counting 2G cdmaOne(TM) subscribers, there are over 502 million CDMA users worldwide. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a widely-deployed 3G CDMA (IMT-2000) solution offering mobile broadband to 128 million people across a wide range of devices. CDMA2000 has been chosen by operators in both developed and emerging markets, and is deployable in the 450, 700, 800, 1700, 1900, AWS and 2100 MHz bands. More than 2,320 CDMA2000 devices from over 122 suppliers have been introduced to the market, including more than 548 Rel. 0 and 226 Rev. A devices on 114 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0 and 77 Rev. A systems. More information on CDMA2000 is available on the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
About CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA2000 technologies. The more than 140 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA2000 features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA2000-related matters.
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