Wireless Management

The CDMA Development Group has announced that the open market for CDMA2000 handsets has grown “considerably”  in India since the CDG-led OMH initiative was launched in 2009.

 

OMH, part of the CDG’s Global Handset Requirements for CDMA initiative, lets operator-specific network configuration, service provisioning and subscriber-identity data to be moved from the handset’s internal memory onto a next-generation OMH SIM card.

 

This turns the handset into a generic device that can be sold on the open market and used by multiple operators, group officials say, adding that the open market model “also improves device time-to-market, expands distribution channels, and reduces inventory risk for manufacturers and operators.”

Group officials said they expect it to expand to new regions worldwide this year.

 

In addition to the first OMH-enabled handset, the Samsung (News - Alert) MPower 699, five more devices are now available, CDMA officials say: Micromax’s C350; Samsung’s Corby 339, Duos 259, and MPower Muzik 219; and SIM Technology’s C24.

 

Also Reliance Communications, Sistema Shyam (News - Alert), Tata Teleservices and Virgin Mobile India are all offering OMH SIM cards and supporting OMH devices on their networks “to provide greater user choice and flexibility.”  Consumers in India, group officials say, “can now select the CDMA2000-enabled OMH device, network and mobile data services they desire.”

 

Recently TMC’s (News - Alert) Rajani Baburajan reported that Anadigics (News - Alert), a provider of semiconductor products for broadband wireless and wireline communications markets, announced the latest version of its dual-band code division multiple access, or CDMA, power amplifiers for CDMA handsets and data cards for wireless providers.

“Over the past six months, we’ve seen the open market model provide a larger CDMA2000 device selection,” said Perry LaForge (News - Alert), executive director of the CDG. “India has lived up to its promise as an ideal launch market for OMH, and we look forward to expanding the OMH initiative worldwide this year.”

 

OMH SIM cards for CDMA2000 devices are more powerful than traditional SIM cards, enabling the most advanced service features available on the market, including voice services, SMS, MMS, downloadable 3G packet data applications, location-based services and high-speed Internet browsing.

 

The CDG is working with over 50 CDMA operators, device and R-UIM/SIM card manufacturers and distributors worldwide to bring more OMH devices to market and assist operators to configure their networks to support OMH. In addition to the Indian operators, CDMA operators in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria are also OMH-compliant and will be supporting OMH devices on their networks later this year.