3G market entering refinement period

April 5, 2006

Cellular operators continued to steadily roll out new 3G systems in 2005, though the rate of new deployments has slowed, reports In-Stat. In 2005, 35 new WCDMA systems were deployed, as well as seven new CDMA2000 1X EV-DO systems, the high-tech market research firm says.

"Most carriers have deployed at least their first attempt at 3G; they see WiMax on the horizon, and they slowly have been embracing WiFi," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "For the most part, carriers will take a breather over these next few years and refine the networks they already have, while developing new features to make use of those networks. Carriers have spent billions of dollars to deploy 3G, but future strategy will be geared toward how to best utilize these networks."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

-- The worldwide 3G subscriber base will grow from 29.1 million in 2004 to 540 million in 2010.

-- HSDPA has very strong traction among WCDMA carriers, and most are planning to or are in the process of upgrading to it.

The research, "The Next Generation Has Arrived - 3G Cellular Deployment Report", covers the worldwide 3G market. It lists carriers that have both deployed 3G systems and purchased 3G equipment, but have not yet deployed it. Included in the list are the technology used, country, launch date, and the date of each carrier's last 3G equipment contract announced. In most cases, the equipment maker that sold equipment to the operator is also listed. In addition, this research contains In-Stat's most recent forecast for TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, and CDMA2000 1X EV-DO subscribers.