221 WCDMA devices launched in past year

August 9, 2006

GSA - the Global mobile Suppliers Association, confirms in a new survey that 44 suppliers have launched 407 3G/WCDMA devices. It means 221 new products worldwide came to market in the past 12 months, representing almost 120% growth. The number of WCDMA device suppliers increased from 26 to 44 in the same period.

GSA's "Survey of 3G/WCDMA-HSDPA Devices - Variety & Availability" also confirms that the number of devices which support HSDPA continues to accelerate, with 51 HSDPA-enabled devices now launched, compared to 12 products in August 2005.

WCDMA is the leading mobile 3G system globally with 112 commercial networks in 49 countries. The number of WCDMA subscriptions is estimated to be rapidly approaching 80 million worldwide.

Most systems operate in the internationally agreed IMT-2000 core band spectrum of 1920 - 1980 MHz paired with 2110 - 2170 MHz. A number of operators are deploying WCDMA in the 850 MHz band, and several more have expressed strong interest in this evolution. GSA confirms that the number of devices which are capable of operating WCDMA at 850 MHz has risen to 18 (from 9 suppliers), with the majority of them including mobile phones, also supporting HSDPA for the full mobile broadband experience.

According to GSA research there are 108 HSDPA network deployments worldwide, including 48 networks in 33 countries that have commercially launched their services.

The number of WCDMA devices which are GSM/EDGE-enabled has increased to 77 (which is more than 5 times the number available in August 2005), thus supporting the trend by mobile operators to deploy combined WCDMA and EDGE networks for the best user experience of voice, Internet access and mobile multimedia services. According to GSA research there are 204 GSM/EDGE network deployments in 113 countries, including 151 networks in 88 countries, that have commercially launched their services.