Industry body the CDMA Development Group (CDG) said Monday that the total cdmaOne and CDMA2000 subscriber base grew by 20 million subscribers in the third quarter, to reach 421.4 million at the end of September.

The organisation also said that the CDMA2000 3G subscriber base, which incorporates the various flavours of 1xEV-DO as well as its predecessor, RTT, now comprises over 400 million users, or around 95 per cent of all CDMA subscribers.

The CDG claims that the technology it promotes now accounts for approximately “70 per cent of all 3G subscribers worldwide”.

The higher speed CDMA2000 1xEV-DO finished the quarter with 83 million subscribers, an increase of 8 million since the previous quarter and 38 million since last year.

Asia Pacific and North America accounted for the majority of CDMA subscribers, with APAC claiming 49 per cent, and North America 32 per cent of the worldwide total.

Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG, said: “Due to its industry-leading telephony and high-speed broadband connectivity, low-cost device availability, and substantially lower total cost of network ownership, it has become the technology of choice in emerging and developed markets alike.”