CDMA operators to initiate Open Market Handsets

MUMBAI, INDIA: India will become the first country to deploy Open Market Handsets (OMH) initiative for the CDMA mobile industry. CDMA Development Group (CDG) has led this initiative with 40-odd members including various operators, device and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors.

Now, with this initiative, any person can buy an open market handset, and pick any CDMA operator. Also, in future the person can switch over to any other CDMA operator with the same or existing handset and will only need to buy a removable user interface module (R-UIM) from the other operator.

According to Tata Tele Services Limited (TTSL)’s president – Business Development, VAS and chief marketing officer (CMO) Lloyd Mathias, even with over 100 million subscribers, the CDMA industry has been facing key challenge of shortage of devices or handsets.

“Consumer researches have shown that the lack of handsets or variety in devices remains one of the reasons for consumers’ dislike for CDMA mobiles or has been the inhibitor for the industry. But with the OMH initiative, the consumers will have range of handsets and better choice of buying devices,” said Mathias.

Qualcomm India and South Asia's country manager and vice president – Technology, Dr. Sandeep Sibal said the OMH will allow single ID for the operators and the users.

“This will facilitate the handset makers to built a single ID handsets enabled with R-UIM that supports multiple networks and operators along a variety of devices for users.”

He further explained, “The OMH is a step ahead in technology terms as it collapses all network configuration and user ID information and now it's just plug and play. The R-UIM is similar to that of SIM used by GSM technology.”

Sibal pointed out that the industry will save capital expense by using OMH as the cost of testing devices and networks would go down as the handsets would be R-UIM enabled.

The CDMA industry has been highly criticized for locking the users with operator-driven handsets with limited choice of devices. However, this initiative is expected to change that traditional business model and approach of CDMA operators.

“We have been following the purchased link model, where we procure handsets in bulk and bundle with our offers and services. The OMH will be very beneficial to operators and also will have huge advantage for users as they can choose handset of their like and buy it from the market,” said Mathias. Moreover, he reckoned that the new initiative would reduce the churn out rate and will enhance the user experience.

However, Huawei and ZTE have tested the OMH in telecom markets of Bangladesh and Indonesia. Also, vendors like Samsung, LG, Haier and Nokia have supported this initiative.

The OMH will be available in India in next couple of months; however, how many OEMs, handset vendors, operators and users will embrace this initiative remains to be seen in future.