LONDON—The UMTS Forum, an association that promotes global Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) adoption, released a study stating that revenue from third-generation (3G) networks will reach US$320 billion in 2010 alone and around US$1 trillion over the decade. The group, which released the study to gauge 3G services demand post 11 September, noted market challenges, such as handset and service delivery delays, will not affect the long-term viability of 3G services.
The report said the demand for 3G mobile data services is high, and the impact of 11 September on 3G rollouts will only be significant in the short term.
Most vendors and operators at the 3GSM World Congress earlier this month said they see no significant 3G services or revenues before 2005 at the earliest.
“Although we do expect to see the first (3G) revenue recognition by vendors in the second half, the increasing levels of complexity and need for interoperability suggests that mass market is unlikely to be before late 2004 or early 2005,” said Tim Long, a wireless communications analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston.
UMTS Forum Chairman Bernd Eylert said at the conference that the study’s results are conservative, and the group is working with European regulators to discuss mutually beneficial options for operators and regulators to help jump-start 3G services.
