Subject: [NEXTEL-1] GSM tops Americas growth charts in 2003

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 07:08:19 -0400

GSM tops Americas growth charts in 2003

GSM is the technology selected by 43% of all new digital wireless customers in the
Americas, making it the number 1 choice of all mobile technologies -- after
showing substantial growth for the second quarter of 2003. 3G Americas reports a
year of solid growth for GSM in the Western Hemisphere, topping the charts with a
78% annual growth rate from June 2002 to June 2003, the highest annual growth of
any mobile technology based on the statistical evidence of the EMC World Cellular
Database.

According to the latest figures from EMC, GSM grew 132% in Latin America and the
Caribbean in a one-year period as of June 2003. Brazil alone added one million new
GSM customers in the second quarter and a total of 1.5 million new customers from
the beginning of the year, representing nearly half of the new mobile customers in
the country, with TDMA as a close second and CDMA a distant third place. Mexico
reached 1.5 million GSM customers as of June 2003, with GSM as the number 1
wireless choice in Mexico in second quarter 2003, representing 66% of all new
mobile customers in the country. In the same quarter, 16.7% of new mobile
customers in Mexico respectively selected TDMA or CDMA.

According to Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G
Americas, "Every country in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the sole
exception of Haiti, has GSM today or will soon have GSM services. From June 2002
to June 2003, 18 operators launched GSM networks in 12 countries and that pace
will only quicken as an additional 31 operators expect to launch GSM services in
20 countries in the region by the end of this year." Rojas added, "GSM deployments
now blanket the Americas region and the growth of customers demonstrates that GSM
is the best technology for evolution to next generation services."

GSM also outpaced other wireless technologies in the USA and Canada from June 2002
- June 2003 with a 57% annual growth rate. This rate is close to three times more
than the growth of CDMA in the region. With three national TDMA operators, AT&T
Wireless and Cingular Wireless in the U.S. and Rogers Wireless in Canada, choosing
the GSM evolution to next generation wireless data services, the shift is
beginning from TDMA to GSM. For the first time, the number of TDMA customers in
North America declined by one percent in the second quarter of 2003 exemplifying
the move of customers from TDMA to GSM.

Chris Pearson, Executive Vice President of 3G Americas commented, "In addition to
the phenomenal growth of GSM coverage and customers in the Americas region, we are
seeing global deployments and commercial launches of EDGE for the delivery next
generation wireless data services. Industry analysts and vendors have forecast
that 85% of the world's mobile customers will use GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS." Pearson
continued, "EDGE momentum continues as EDGE is now commercially available in
Indianapolis, Hong Kong and Finland, with a nationwide deployment expected in the
U.S. before the end of the year."

Posted to the site on 09-Oct-03

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/9880.shtml

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