3G Americas have made public that GSM-HSPA is expected to reach 4 billion mobile connections all over the world in September this year. This definitely seems like an extraordinary figure as apparently until now no other technology innovation claims to even come close to the number of connections by GSM-HSPA.
“Automobiles and telephones, followed by televisions and personal computers, have undeniably changed the world and have greatly shaped the way in which we live our lives. Wireless mobile telephony substantially exceeds the impact of any one of these major innovations. In some countries, wireless penetration levels are exceeding 100 percent, as now, not only people, but machines, are connected through GSM technology, available today on nearly 800 networks in 219 countries worldwide,” quotedChris Pearson, President of 3G Americas.
Customers taking up the 3GPP evolution from GSM to HSPA increased by nearly 19 percent in the year ending June 2009 with 561 million subscribers. In the same 12 months, on a global level GSM-HSPA surged by 20 percent adding approximately 645 million new connections.
Eva Benguigui, Senior Research Analyst for Informa Telecoms and Media stated, “Mobile broadband growth is most notable in Latin America where fixed broadband access remains limited. Mobile operators are seeing the opportunity to use recently deployed third generation (3G) networks as a way of diversifying their revenue streams and connecting millions for whom an Internet connection has until recently been out of reach.”
According to Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Information Service, the increasing number of 3G subscribers for UMTS-HSPA is quite remarkable. Such subscribers have attained an annual gain of 57 percent all over the world in the year ending June, 2009. In the period of 12 months, UMTS-HSPA has added approximately 137 million connections with 377 million subscriptions.
There appears to be a significant growth for subscriptions to GSM-HSPA technologies in the Latin America and Caribbean as well. GSM technologies grew at an annual rate of 22 percent to more than 433 million connections with a 90 percent market share. On the other hand, at the end of second quarter 2009, CDMA mobile technologies witnessed a decline in subscriptions.
Presently, through 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are 49 UMTS-HSPA networks that are commercially deployed. It is present is in 116 countries worldwide and 277 commercial networks provide HSPA. As an addition, so far 11 networks have been upgraded to HSPA+. It is speculated that by the year 2012, UMTS-HSPA will wrap in one billion subscribers.