WCDMA uptake slower than expected

September 8, 2005

WCDMA services are penetrating markets more slowly than analysts had first anticipated, according to the latest assessment from ABI Research.

The data-centric mobile communications platform looked set to enjoy rapid market success, but according to Lance Wilson, ABI Research's director of wireless research, "We have refined our appraisal of GSM/GPRS/EDGE versus WCDMA. The uptake of WCDMA is not likely to be as rapid as was once thought. It will show good growth, but there is still a lot of life left in GSM."

These conclusions form part of the latest release of the firm's "Wireless Base Station Research Service", a subscription service which includes Research Reports, Market Updates, Industry and Forecast Databases, analyst access, Asia Research reports and ABI Insights. The service is supported by analysis of some of the key drivers of infrastructure deployment, supplier and operator trends, and is updated quarterly.

The latest edition includes a new Subscriber Database, improved modeling, and the inclusion of FOMA WCDMA base stations in Japan.

"The rollout of WCDMA will continue," adds Wilson, "but service providers are also upgrading their GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, so it will take a little longer for WCDMA to become the ubiquitous standard in the GSM family of technologies."

Noting that "It's been difficult to gauge the uptake of WCDMA because there are so many factors affecting it," Wilson attributes the slower pace of adoption to issues of greater expense and of a lack of compelling applications. "The services being offered to the customer have not quite caught up with the technology," he says.