3G Development

The numbers keep changing, whatever source you read, and in whatever month you are in. It is also probable that each company that provides this kind of research is pushing its own agenda, and as such, well, the recent study by Analysys Research.

In Europe about the growing penetration of 3G is just one more indicator that something is happening and that there is a future, even so competing systems are also developing. But Analysys Research basically states, that Seven out of ten Western European mobile users will have a 3G-enabled device within five years. And that the number of users of the high-speed data protocol 3G (UMTS) will rise from 600,000 at the end of 2003 to 240 million by 2009, according to Analysys Research ()

(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/03/3g_mass_market/) .

This would equal a CAGR growth of about 170% - an unbelievable high number. How about Asia? Well, countries issued licenses (e.g.; Singapore, Malaysia) and they started to establish their network. China declared that she is not going to issue licences until the beginning of 2005 or end 2004 – so the big boost from this side of the world will come later, as the economies of scale are not there.