BELLEVUE, Wash. -- 3G Americas today announced a breakthrough in commercial volume with 107 live HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) commercial networks in 55 countries worldwide, and yet another 82 HSDPA networks planned or in deployment. Among those countries deploying HSDPA is Brazil, the largest mobile market in Latin America with an estimated 66.5 million GSM customers today according to Informa Telecoms & Media, WCIS. The market will be led by the recent announcement of Telemig Celular and Ericsson to construct and deploy the first UMTS network with HSDPA capacity in Brazil.
The momentum of the third generation of GSM’s 3G evolution continues to escalate. In only 16 months since the first launch of HSDPA by Cingular Wireless in December 2005, the number of commercial HSDPA networks has increased worldwide from one to 107. PC cards, the first generation of HSDPA-capable devices, became available in Q4 2005; handsets, in Q2 2006. There are more than 200 HSDPA devices that have been launched in the market since the first deployment of HSDPA.
2006 was the year HSDPA technology made its way across the Americas, with networks in service in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Chile. “HSDPA is now coming to Brazil, where it's estimated that 20 million GSM subscribers were added in the year between Q1 2006 and Q1 2007, resulting in an approximate 64% market share for GSM," commented Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas.
3G Americas LLC