GSM Technology Family Surpasses 90% Market Share in Latin America

BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwire - December 2, 2009) - 3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE, today affirmed that the number of subscriptions to the GSM family of technologies (GSM-HSPA) continues to grow at a rapid rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, where its market share has surpassed 90 percent.

Based on data provided by Informa Telecoms & Media, 3G Americas reported that the Latin America and Caribbean region had over 447 million total GSM-HSPA subscriptions as of third quarter of 2009. There were 119 GSM operators serving every country in the region, with 73 million new GSM-HSPA subscriptions added in the year ending September 2009. The phenomenal uptake of UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband technology is evidenced by its growth, from fewer than 28,000 subscriptions in September 2007, up to 2.5 million by September 2008, and totaling nearly 12 million in September 2009 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The family of GSM wireless technologies has delivered a world-class technology success story in Latin America," commented Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas. "The number of UMTS-HSPA subscriptions in Latin America grew by 9.4 million in 12 months -- an amazing 380 percent annual growth rate. Clearly, a strong HSPA footprint exists in the region today with 50 commercial networks in 23 countries."

Eva Benguigui, Senior Research Analyst at Informa, added, "Mobile Broadband connectivity has been the key service to propel the growth of UMTS-HSPA technology in the Latin America and Caribbean region due to the low household penetration of fixed broadband in most of the countries in the region."

In all of the Western Hemisphere, a total of 577 million GSM-HSPA subscriptions were reported by Informa as of third quarter of 2009, representing a 73 percent market share. There were 18.4 million new subscriptions added to the GSM family of technologies in the third quarter of 2009, and 81 million in the year ending September 2009, for a 16 percent annual growth.

Globally, there were 317 UMTS-HSPA commercial networks reported, 300 of which used HSPA technology and served customers in 128 countries. UMTS-HSPA currently boasts nearly 414 million global 3G subscriptions representing more than 9 percent of the world's total mobile wireless subscriptions.

From the 217 million HSPA subscriptions expected worldwide by year-end 2009, Informa forecasts that this number will rise to 1.2 billion in 2013 and exceed 2 billion shortly after year-end 2014.

As of September 2009, the GSM family of technologies reached nearly 4 billion subscriptions worldwide and 89.5 percent share of market with service on 860 networks in 220 countries.

For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the GSM family of technologies, visit www.3gamericas.org.

About Informa Telecoms & Media

Informa Telecoms & Media (www.informatm.com) is the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic services to the global telecoms and media markets.

About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology

3G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment of the GSM family of technologies including LTE throughout the Americas. 3G Americas has contributed to the successful commercial rollout of GSM across the Americas and its place as the number one technology in the region, as well as the global adoption of EDGE. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas, Texas. More information is available at www.3gamericas.org.

3G Americas' Board of Governors members include Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, Andrew Solutions, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Gemalto, Huawei, HP, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Openwave, Research in Motion (RIM), Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.

Contact Information: Contact: Vicki Livingston (262) 242 3458