News
100m WCDMA 3G users in Europe
Stuart O'Brien Jun 24 2008, 12:35pm
European WCDMA subscriptions passed the 100 million mark at end-May 2008, according to Informa.
The landmark has been reached five years after the first commercial WCDMA network was launched.
Informa's World Cellular Information Service shows there were 101.5 million WCDMA subs in Europe at the end of May, from a total of 910.8 million mobile subs.
That means WCDMA penetration is now at 11.1 per cent.
Italy became the first market in Europe to offer WCDMA devices when 3 Italia launched services in March 2003. The country now accounts for a quarter of Europe’s WCDMA subscriptions and has one of the highest 3G penetration rates, at 28.7 per cent.
Other markets where 3 launched in 1H03 also have high 3G penetration rates, notably Austria, Sweden and the UK.
Furthermore, Informa says a slight slowdown in the growth in WCDMA handset sales in Western Europe in 1Q08 was counteracted by an acceleration in sales of WCDMA/HSPA datacards and modems, which boosted the size of the total 3G market, particularly in Sweden and Austria.
