A new GSM/3G Market Update is published today by Global Suppliers Association and can be downloaded from here. It contains the latest industry facts, information, analysis and trends regarding GSM/EDGE, WCDMA-HSPA, UMTS900 and UMTS850, HSPA+, LTE, mobile broadband regulatory and spectrum developments, re-farming of current allocations, the Digital Dividend, and mobile subscriptions growth.
Here are some headline figures:
"¢ 3.54 billion GSM, WCDMA-HSPA subscriptions (Q4 08)
"¢ GSM/WCDMA has 89.5% worldwide market share (Q4 08)
"¢ The BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India, and China together account for over 1.168 billion GSM Subscriptions (Q4 08)
"¢ APAC has over 1.494 billion GSM, WCDMA-HSPA subscriptions (Q4 08)
"¢ India has over 254 million GSM subscriptions, 79.2% market share (Q4 08)
"¢ China and India have a combined total of 845.8 million GSM subs (Q4 08)
"¢ Western Europe has 565 million GSM, WCDMA-HSPA subscriptions (Q4 08)
"¢ The Americas i.e. North America, Central, Latin America and Caribbean region combined have 527 million GSM, WCDMA-HSPA subscriptions (Q4 08)
"¢ Africa has 365 million GSM subscribers (Q4 08)
"¢ Over 80% of commercial GPRS operators globally have committed to EDGE (GSA estimate)
"¢ 441 GSM/EDGE network commitments in 184 countries; 413 networks launched in 177 countries (GSA survey: December 23, 2008)
"¢ Over 2,500 GSM/EDGE user devices launched (GSA estimate, January 2009)
"¢ 3G/WCDMA: 275 operators launched in 116 countries (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ Over 2,000 WCDMA user devices launched (GSA estimate, January 2009)
"¢ 287 million WCDMA subs including HSPA (Q4 08)
"¢ 102.3 million WCDMA subscriptions added in 2008, for over 55.4% annual growth
"¢ Over 82.8 million HSPA subscriptions (Q3 08) included in the WCDMA subs total
"¢ WCDMA has over 71.8% market share of global 3G subscriptions
"¢ Over 94.1% of commercial WCDMA operators have launched HSPA (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 286 HSPA operator commitments in 121 countries (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 259 3G/HSDPA operators launched in 111 countries (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 120 HSDPA networks launched in Europe including in all 27 Member States of the European Union (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 185 HSDPA networks have launched 3.6 Mbps (peak) downlink service or higher = over 71% of commercial HSDPA operators, thus establishing the baseline for mobile broadband services. (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 96 commercial HSDPA networks, that is over 37%, support 7.2 Mbps (peak) (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 2 HSPA+ networks have launched commercial service
"¢ 19 HSPA+ operator commitments worldwide
"¢ 26 LTE operator commitments worldwide (GSA survey, March 4, 2009)
"¢ Up to 10 LTE networks are expected to enter commercial service in 2010
"¢ 1,409 HSDPA devices launched by 169 suppliers (GSA survey, March 10, 2009)
"¢ 897 devices support 3.6 Mbps peak or higher (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 492 devices support 7.2 Mbps peak or higher (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 71 HSUPA networks launched in 42 countries, plus another 13 network commitments/deployments (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ 242 HSUPA devices launched (compared to 66 in April 2008) (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 1,034 HSPA devices (over 93%) operate in 2100 MHz band (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 483 HSPA devices (44%) operate in 850 MHz band (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 348 tri-band HSPA devices 850/1900/2100 MHz (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 115 HSPA devices operate in 900 MHz band (UMTS900) (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 335 HSPA devices (excluding notebooks) incorporate 802.11 Wi-Fi
"¢ 271 HSPA devices incorporate GPS/positioning functionality (compared to 20 in October 2007) (excluding notebooks)
"¢ 161 of 259 commercially launched HSDPA operators (over 62%) have also launched EDGE (GSA survey: March 25, 2009)
"¢ Over 83% of HSDPA devices also support GSM/EDGE (GSA survey, March 10, 2009) (excluding notebooks)
"¢ Over 1.83 billion GSM, WCDMA and HSPA subscriptions in commercial HSPA-enabled networks worldwide (GSA estimate - March 2009)