CDMA players grab PCO market

In just three years, code division multiple access (CDMA) operators have grabbed 44 per cent of the total public call office (PCO) market, hitherto a monopoly of the state-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).

According to CDMA operators' industry body, the Association of Unified Service Providers Association of India (AUSPI), of the two million PCOs operational, private CDMA players have got 44 per cent of the market.

AUSPI made the presentation at a function to hand over charge to the new office bearers of the association. CDMA service providers started operations in 2003. Secretary general S C Khanna, AUSPI, said: "CDMA operators offer hassle-free wireless PCO connections and also offer discounts and even finance interested parties." The average revenue per user of PCO is about 4-5 times more than that of a mobile user.

CDMA operators have been steadily increasing their growth rate. They have grown from 20 per cent in March 2005 to 28 per cent in June 2006, while the growth rate of GSM operators has come down from 18.29 per cent to 13 per cent in the same period. However, the growth may be not complementary to the actual growth because of the high subscriber base of GSM operators. CDMA operators are adding two million subscribers a month compared with 4 million subscribers for GSM.

On Trai's recommendation on spectrum allocation for next generation (3G), AUSPI said the recommendations were balanced for both CDMA and GSM operators unlike the last time which was GSM-centric.

The association also expressed concern over delays in getting interconnection from BSNL and said they were working closely with the PSU to resolve the pending issues.

AUSPI has inducted four new members - Qualcomm, Lucent Technologies, ZTE Telecom and Huawei Telecommunications as associate members in its association.