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GSM Continues to Dominate Mobile Sector

TelecomTV reports that new figures from 3G Americas show that GSM mobile technology now utterly dominates the planet. As of last month 81 per cent of all mobile digital wireless users on earth use systems and services based on GSM.

What�s more, between Q4 2004 and Q4 2005, GSM networks added a further 400 million subscribers to their rolls and there are now 1.9 billion GSM users in 213 countries using various evolutions and iterations of GSM technology such as GSM itself, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA. That compares to the worldwide CDMA user base of 291 million customers.

UMTS has been deployed by 103 operators in 47 countries while a further 93 operators in 23 other countries readying the introduction of the technology. Four UMTS networks are at the pre-commercial stage, 61 others are either planned or in construction, 20 networks are being trialled and eight UMTS new licences have been awarded. More than 250 different UMTS handsets and mobile devices are now on the market.

Meanwhile, HSDPA has been deployed by ten operators in the past four months and since Cingular Wireless first deployed the technology in the U.S. in December last year. Another 71 operators have publicly announced they too will introduce HSDPA and the technology has gained such traction in recent months that it is now confidently expected that all UMTS operators will use it.

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