LONDON-The Global Mobile Suppliers Association reported that W-CDMA services are now being offered by 74 operators in 34 countries with an additional six networks currently in pre-commercial stages. The GSA added that the 74 currently live networks are an increase of 14 networks compared with the number during the first half of this year.
Total W-CDMA subscribers has also surged by 10 million customers during the first half of this year to 26.48 million total subscribers, with 2 million subscribers added in each of the last three months. The GSA claimed the growth rate was faster than GSM technology at the same stage of its introduction.
Strong W-CDMA device support was singled out as a main reason for the robust subscriber growth with a reported 179 W-CDMA devices currently available from 26 suppliers, including 71 products introduced this year. The GSA noted that 132 of available W-CDMA devices are designed for use globally, with the remainder for use on Japanese telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo Inc.’s FOMA service.
