LONDON-In a new report, the Global mobile Suppliers Association confirmed that commercial GSM/EDGE network launches have tripled since last year to reach 96 EDGE-enabled networks in 60 countries.
The breakdown is 38 commercial networks in 26 countries in Europe, 17 in Asia, 32 in 18 countries and territories in the Americas, with the remaining nine networks in seven countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The survey identified a total of 153 network operators in 85 countries committed to the EDGE upgrade, an increase from last year when there were 106 networks in 64 countries. Regionally, there are 60 EDGE network deployments in the Americas, 54 in Europe, 26 in Asia, and 13 in the Middle East and Africa. The report said more networks are expected to launch EDGE-enabled commercial services in the coming months.
Regarding GSM/EDGE-enabled devices, the report said there are 143 devices launched in the market from 23 suppliers, and more than 110 devices of those have been launched during the past year.
