GSM success

The GSM Association (GSMA) is pleased to periodically report the advance of the GSM technologies. And it is right that numbers are favorable: 1.8bn GSM users in the world and fastest growing user base; a GSM world more than six times bigger (82% market share) than that of the nearest competing mobile technology; a proven technology that has help operator migration from TDMA, PDC and in more limited cases from CDMA, to all levels of GSM technologies (from GSM to GPRS, WCDMA, HSDPA, ...). Yes it is a success, and many countries have switched to GSM in recent years, and not the smallest: look at the US, Japan, Latam countries, Korea, ...It is a win-win strategy. GSM operators are benefiting of economy of scale in network equipment and handsets, end-users are offered a broader range of handsets, far cheaper than in other technologies, and when traveling they are pleased to roam with their mobile instead to have to rent a local product.

GSM is currently used in 680 networks worldwide, of which more than 105 mobile networks have launched commercial W-CDMA networks across 50 countries. More than 95 operators in 48 countries have already committed to deploy and launch commercial HSDPA services.

In contrast, when the CDMA Development Group (CDG) reports its own figures, they cannot have the same weight. CDMA 2000 took a better and earlier start than WCDMA, but now the competitive advantage has vanished (72 CDMA 2000 live or in development worldwide, with 30m users, compared with 105 WCDMA networks and 55m users for GSM world).