Español | cdmaOne Worldwide Subscriber Growth

NEW ORLEANS, LA, Feb. 8, 1999 - cdmaOne continues to soar in all regions, reaching close to 23 million global subscribers as of December 31, 1998. With cdmaOne customers almost tripling in 1998, cdmaOne continues its pace as the fastest growing wireless technology in the world.

In 1998, worldwide cdmaOne customers grew by approximately 15 million subscribers. In North America alone, cdmaOne subscribers now total 6.8 million, growing 453% in the last year and more than 150% in the last quarter. In Latin America, cdmaOne experienced a phenomenal increase, growing over 400% in the last quarter as new operators came on-line in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. The Asia Pacific region continues to soar, showing no signs of slowing subscriber growth because of economic difficulties. The region now totals close to 15 million subscribers, up approximately 133% in the last quarter and 237% for all of 1998.

"This unprecedented growth has exceeded our projections. It is a testimony to the tremendous customer and operator acceptance that cdmaOne has achieved around the world. cdmaOne operators are now clearly the most competitive carriers in the marketplace and they're well positioned for the future, as cdmaOne evolves to become the global third generation (3G) wireless standard," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group. "We believe that this remarkable growth will continue in all regions as operators continue to differentiate themselves by exploiting the advantages that only cdmaOne provides."

cdmaOne Worldwide Subscriber Growth
September 1997 through December 1998

Source: CDMA Development Group

Commenting on the performance of each of the regions, LaForge noted, "Historically, cdmaOne has grown rapidly in Asia, the source of our largest subscriber base. We expect a significant cdmaOne subscriber increase in this region throughout 1999 as operators continue to rollout their networks. New networks such as Australia will also come on-line soon. In North America cdmaOne now provides coast to coast coverage, with multiple cdmaOne operators in many markets. This has clearly put cdmaOne operators in a dominant position in the marketplace relative to their GSM counterparts. We also expect significant gains in Latin America. Look for explosive growth as more systems go live throughout Mexico, Brazil and other countries this year."

LaForge concluded, "Now with 23 million subscribers, cdmaOne has continued to outpace its own record-breaking growth rate. With the advent of wireless Internet access, high-speed data, and wireless local loop applications, we know this will continue. We anticipate at least 40 million cdmaOne global subscribers as we enter the year 2000, positioning cdmaOne as the technology for the new millennium."

Today's cdmaOne subscriber numbers were released by the CDG at the CTIA Wireless '99 show at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA, February 8-10, 1999.