-- HSDPA service reaches not only the US, but also Canada, Puerto Rico
and Chile
-- GSM attains an market share of 56% in the Western Hemisphere and
growing
-- EDGE is available through 59 operators in 24 countries
Globally, GSM's net additions in 2006 far exceed the entire customer base
of any other mobile wireless technology. In the past year, GSM gained 461
million new customers worldwide, compared to 48 million CDMA customers,
according to estimates by Informa Telecoms & Media. In Latin America, GSM
grew its subscriber base by more than 81 million customers, surpassing the
200 million customer mark, while CDMA added 6 million customers for a total
customer base of approximately 62 million.
There are over 700 GSM operators in service worldwide across 220 countries.
This includes over 208 EDGE
deployments worldwide, which highlights the winning combination of
coverage, speed, devices, and low latency provided by the still-growing
technology. The GSM family's 3G services are being delivered across the
world as well, with 155 UMTS
commercial networks in service, 97 of which have already deployed
HSDPA.
"GSM was widely successful throughout Latin America again this year,
especially in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. Brazil ended 2006
with 63 million GSM users, while Mexico ended with 43 million GSM users and
Argentina and Colombia with more than 25 million GSM users each. These 4
countries represent an amazing 75% of the 208 million GSM users in Latin
America and the Caribbean at the end of 2006," commented Erasmo Rojas,
Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas. "CDMA to GSM
migrations in the region are likely one of the many causes for this
outstanding growth. Also, the recent availability of low cost GSM mobile
phones in the region will enable more customers to have an affordable, high
quality means of communication."
The GSM family of technologies has progressed in every facet in Latin
America GSM growth, EDGE deployments and UMTS trials and launches.
"Even though the Latin America region is reaching levels of maturity on its
mobile penetration rate, this region will show a significant growth in the
GSM subscription family over the next three to five years," according to
Eva Benguigui, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media. She
continued, "According to Informa's latest forecast, by 2010 there will be
over 150 million additional GSM subscriptions and over 25 million UMTS
subscriptions in Latin America."
In the United States and Canada during 2006, the GSM family added the
largest percentage of customers, resulting in over 19 million customers
added in 2006 compared to 13 million CDMA users. GSM's North American
growth rate of 24% was double the CDMA growth rate of 12% in that region
for the year.
Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas stated, "The GSM family of
technologies made significant progress on every front in 2006 including
technical advancements, market growth and standards evolution. I look
forward to the continued success in 2007 and beyond."
Subscriber data is based on figures from Informa Telecoms & Media. For
charts on GSM growth visit 3G Americas' website at:
http://www.3gamericas.org/English/statistics/index.cfm.
About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless
deployment throughout the Americas of GSM and its evolution to 3G and
beyond. The organization fully supports the Third Generation (3G)
technology migration strategy to EDGE and UMTS/HSPA adopted by many
operators in the Americas that is expected to account for up to 85% of
next-generation customers worldwide. 3G Americas is headquartered in
Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas,
TX. For more information, visit our website at www.3gamericas.org.
3G Americas' Board of Governors includes: Alcatel-Lucent, Andrew
Corporation, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Motorola,
Nortel Networks, Nokia, Openwave, Research in Motion (RIM), Rogers Wireless
(Canada), T-Mobile USA, Telcel (Mexico), Telefonica Internacional SA, and
Texas Instruments.
About Informa Telecoms & Media
Informa Telecoms & Media provides business intelligence and strategic
services to the global telecoms and media markets. All of our products and
services -- from news, trend analysis and forecasting to industry data,
face-to-face events and training -- are driven by our deep understanding of
the markets we serve and by our goal to help our clients make better
business decisions. www.informatm.com
Contact Information: Contact: Vicki Livingston +1 262 242 3458 Email Contact