More Than 100 Operator Commitments to Next Generation Mobile Networks With LTE
BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwire - December 22, 2008) - 3G Americas, a wireless industry trade
association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE,
today announces that a historic milestone was achieved for the wireless
industry in December 2008 with 4 billion connections to mobile devices
worldwide. This estimate by Informa Telecoms & Media represents 60% of the
entire global population today. In some countries, millions of people are
now experiencing connectivity to the world for the first time through
wireless and changing their economic, social and political fortunes
forever.
"The Latin America and Caribbean region continues to show steady consumer
growth with 16% year-on-year growth as subscription numbers are expected to
reach in excess of 440 million, equating to 76% penetration," noted Marisol
Gomez, Americas regional analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "The market
in the region to have shown the greatest number of net additions in the
year was unsurprisingly Brazil [19 million], but in terms of annual growth,
we note that Peru has been a particularly fast growing market with 4.6
million net additions, representing annual subscription growth of 33%."
As many emerging markets are achieving a new level of communication,
wireless technology continues its rapid advancement into next generation
mobile networks. Currently, more than 100
operators worldwide, including most industry leaders, have announced
expectations to migrate networks to LTE from 2010 and beyond. LTE is the
next evolution of mobile broadband technology that utilizes OFDM-based
technology and a flat-IP core network allowing an enhanced Internet
experience on mobile devices.
"Third generation technologies continue to evolve and the GSM operator
today has a clear path towards LTE," stated Chris Pearson, President of 3G
Americas. "In addition to the evolution to LTE by GSM operators, LTE is
proving to be the technology choice for CDMA operators as well."
The number of wireless users on 3G services continues to rise. Informa
estimates that there are nearly 415 million 3G subscriptions to date, with
77% share of the 3G market on UMTS/HSPA networks or 320 million
connections, and the remaining 95 million on CDMA EV-DO. The number of
commercial UMTS/HSPA networks has risen to 258 in more than 100
countries, including 41
networks in 20 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
"HSPA and HSPA+ will compete with any and all mobile wireless technologies
available today and in the near future," concluded Pearson. "In fact,
recent commercial launches of HSPA+, such as that of Telstra in Australia,
are reporting peak theoretical downlink speeds of 21.6 Mbps. 3G is more
than capable of delivering the bandwidth customers need today, and the
emerging LTE technology provides us with a clear evolution path for the
future."
3G Americas is endorsing the two-day conference by ATIS (Alliance for
Telecommunications Industries Solutions) and 3GPP (Third Generation
Partnership Project), LTE: Towards Mobile Broadband, which will be held in
Dallas on January 26 and 27. A 3G Americas HSPA+ and LTE Executive
Briefing will be offered as part of the agenda and will feature Kris Rinne,
Senior Vice President of Architecture and Planning, AT&T; Neville Ray, Sr.
Vice President of Engineering and Operations, T-Mobile USA; and other
senior executives from 3G Americas' Board of Governors member companies.
For more information and to register visit: http://www.atis.org/lte/
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 and facilitate the seamless deployment throughout the
Americas of the GSM family of technologies, including LTE. 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, WA
with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas, Texas. More
information is available at www.3gamericas.org.