One of the criticisms of CDMA based mobile phone operators has been the lack of international roaming. Specifically, outside of North America a Verizon phone won't work in too many places. Now, does that really matter?? 5% of the US population (born in the US) hold passports. 1% use them. (I heard these stats - have not checked them...but it sounds right). so for the 2.5 million people that need to leave north america AND take their existing mobile phone with them, they may be better off with a "world phone". This has had more implications regionally than for Americans. That is, international roaming throughout asia or in South America is more important than North America, and, Europe has the biggest international roaming issue of all. Hence GSM. Originally called "Group Special Mobile" for the French committee of ETSI that worked on it from 1985-1989+, it's primary goal was to have pan-European roaming rather than to increase voice capacity; that was the 1989 American problem. So, GSM solved the Euro roaming problem, and fit nicely with the "consolidation" that occured there.

. Today KDDI announced that they have expanded CDMA roaming to parts of the US and China. This is more good CDMA news.