How government policy affected CDMA in Nigeria
Why CDMA Telecommunication failed in nigeria .
CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access is a mobile communication technology that allow many subscribers to and receive information concurrently on a single communication channel. CDMA operates on the spread spectrum technology which allows several subscribers to use the same space time and frequency allocations in a particular band.
Globally CDMA has been recognized as a better technology when compared to alternative technologies used by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and is also said to be more less expensive for the operators to maintain and leads to lower tariffs.
In 1998 the first of Private Telephone Operators (PTO) in Nigeria (multi-links) started operation through the CDMA technology. VGC Communications, Intercellular, Mobitel, EMIS and other all joined. In the year 2001 there were already 12 CDMA operators. GSM entered the market with an open license with high call rate and sim card for as high as N30,000 then, approximately $250 which is 100 times what a 4G sim goes for currently.
With all the excellent quality of service (QOS) CDMA had, they were unable to attract foreign investors unlike their counterpart did. GMS is a world network without constraints on where they are used globally, the closeness of the CDMA phones make many in spite of it quality preferred a network that is open, a network that gives them freedom to choose their operators at will. This is the reason why phones locked with CDMA carriers are not used world with CDMA until they are unlocked. American telecommunication today is a blend of CDMA and GSM.
A careful view at the Nigerian Telecommunications market, one can easily conclude that the CDMA apart from not having support from foreign investor, the market was one sided, favouring GSM over CDMA because of Government policy. On contrary the GSM providers like MTN, Airtel (formerly Econet), Globacom and Etisalat enter the market with full support from foreign banks, international finance brokers and partnership with foreign vendors like Ericsson
The limited regional license of CDMA operators was a major disability to their wide spread from the beginning compared to their GSM counterparts was the cog on the wheel to their growth in the market. Even this limitation starcomms, one of the operators with a popular slogan the ‘starcomms connecting people’ made it into Nigeria stock exchange market and that was the first and only telecommunication to be enlisted into the market. Thus becoming a PLC.

Earlier in 2007, MTN bought VGC Communications Limited (VGCCL), a Lagos-based Private Telephone Operator licensed by NCC to provide cabling and radio, telephone services nationwide and had laid extensive fibre optic cables, and Internet service provision. This places MTN in a position of being a single dominant player in the voice and data markets in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry. Continue on the link below
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