Wireless, Global.   New growth markets gift GSM 1,000,000 new users every day, according to the latest report from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). It confirms that GSM’s position as the dominant global mobile system is strengthening.

The GSM/3G Network Update has just been published by GSA. The number of GSM subscribers surged 234.7 million in the first 8 months of 2005 and now exceeds 1.5 billion worldwide. In other words, GSM is currently adding one million subscribers every day - and new growth markets are its key drivers.

GSM market share has increased in 2005 from 74.7% to 76.8%, and now accounts for over 88% of current net additions. In particular, SGA singles out Africa, India, Latin America and Asia, where GSM is efficiently supporting operators in opening new market segments. To back up the explosion, new users have almost 1,700 different GSM phones to choose from.

The GSM/3G Network Update also shows WCDMA as by far the leading 3G technology globally: the shift to GSM/3G with WCDMA and EDGE is firmly established. Citing its own survey data, GSA confirms that the number of 3G/WCDMA networks delivering commercial services is now 82 networks in 37 countries, an increase of 22 networks during 2005. A further seven networks are at pre-commercial stage, ie, over 60% of the total of 146 WCDMA licence holders globally have either launched commercial 3G services, or are very near to doing so. There were 32.22 million WCDMA subscribers globally at 31 August 2005.

GSA identifies 48 mobile operators who are deploying combined EDGE-WCDMA networks. There are 153 network operators in 85 countries committed to the EDGE upgrade (up by 47 networks in and 21 countries compared with 12 months ago) while 96 networks have launched commercial EDGE-enabled services in 60 countries.

There are several more major developments in the report. More key facts from the GSM/3G Network Update show:

GSA‘s study also records subscriber growth numbers and trends by region, using data provided by Informa Telecoms & Media for GSM and WCDMA subscribers.

GSM/3G Network Update (September 2005) is available free of charge by downloading from www.gsacom.com