Computer Science and Engineering 2014, 4(1): 1-6
DOI: 10.5923/j.computer.20140401.01
Assessment of Subscriber’s Preference to GSM and
CDMA in South West Nigeria
Oloja S. V
1,*
, Kuboye B. M
2
, Obolo O. A
2
1
Department of Math/Stat/CIS, Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
2
Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria
Abstract Code Division Multiple Access is a modulation and multiple access schemes based on Spread Spectrum
Communication while Global System for Mobile Communication is of digital cellular that is based on Time Division
Multiple Access and Frequency Division Multiple Access. This paper assesses both CDMA and GSM network qualities in
South West, Nigeria. Some marketing mix strategies of CDMA and GSM operators were put together in a questionnaire and
were administered to respondents of different status, locations and different states. Consequently, hypotheses relevant to the
study were formulated for test. These hypotheses were later analyzed and tested using Chi-Square. The results showed tariff
as the determinant factor for subscribers to choose their preferred network.
Keywords CDMA, GSM, Chi-Square, Hypotheses, Communication
1. Introduction
Nigeria is often identified as the fastest-moving economy,
and one of the most advanced ICT market sectors in Africa.
Little wonder it easily became the telecom hot spot[1]. The
deregulation of the communication sector led to the issuance
of the first Global System for Mobile (GSM) licence, by the
Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), on 9
February, 2001, after a much-lauded bid sessions earlier, to
MTN Nigeria. MTN consequently made its first GSM call on
May 16, 2001[2], and later launched full commercial
presence in Lagos, Portharcourt and Abuja. Following
MTN’s monolithic success, and Nigeria being regarded as
one of the fastest growing GSM markets in the world[3],
other network providers soon put a foot in the door. They
included Econet (Zain), Glo, and Etisalat, in that order.
Further, some Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
network providers evolved too, comprising Starcomms,
Visafone and Zoom.
This development had been explosive, as the NCC
comparatively reckons that as at 2001, the number of
working lines was approximately 450,000. This jumped to 7
million and over 70 million respectively by August 2004,
and December 2009[3].
Nine years on, and with intense competition, the network
providers’ focus seems to be shifting from coverage to
improved quality. This study seeks to evaluate the
* Corresponding author:
olojasegun@yahoo.com (Oloja S. V)
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/computer
Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved
performance of GSM and CDMA network generally in the
South-West, Nigeria.
Specifically, it intends, among others, to: Determine the
most patronized GSM network, Ascertain and rank the
attributes for GSM network patronage, Determine whether
network performance is associated with choice of network
by subscriber, Evaluate the significance of network attributes
in network preference.
Mobile number portability is the new services introduced
by Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) in other to
get subscribers opportunities to port to network of their
choice. As the network providers are wooing subscribers to
their network each claiming that they have better
performance than the other. How can we ascertain their
claims? This work is set to provide answer for this question
raised above. That is, this work will investigate how the
performance of each network is seeing by the subscriber.
This research work is set to get appropriate performance of
different network providers.
2. History of CDMA and GSM
Technology
CDMA technology dates right back to the pre-WWII
America. Invented by HedyLamarr and George Antheil in
the 1940s, it was used to control the movement of torpedoes
by means of using multiple radio frequencies. The military
used this as their standard means of communication, as it
allows them make completely secure broadcasts, known
during that time as frequency-hopping, this technology kept
changing and evolving till it reached its present-day status.
CDMA was patented by Qualcomm and then adopted by all