Holiday Gift Guide »

US 3G market penetration out paces Europe

By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 11:08 AM

It looks like our immature, underdeveloped 3G wireless network infrastructure hasn’t stopped the US from passing-up Western Europe  in terms of 3G subscribers. According to comScore, 28.4% of US wireless subscribers have hopped on board the 3G bandwagon. Compare that to the 28.3% of western European wireless customers with 3G handsets in tow, and it’s apparent that the US has edged past Europe in 3G market penetration.

comScore 3G market penetration - US passes western Europe

The US has seen an 80% increases in 3G usage since last year, which is impressive to say the least. With 3G handsets like the iPhone 3G and the Samsung Instinct burning up the 3G networks of AT&T and Sprint alike, it makes sense that the US has one-upped Europe in the 3G-game. And, with all new worthwhile handsets sporting 3G radios, the US isn’t likely to see much decline in 3G usage.

Press release

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Topy

    Heh by reading comment in Engadget you can pretty much get the image of how accurate this “study” is ;)

  • Kevin

    Interesting, though bogus, conclusions.

    Since the study stopped at June 2008, the iPhone 3G had NOTHING to do with the increase.

  • Kevin

    Nor the Instinct.

    I believe that, surprisingly, the RAZR is the most popular 3G device in the USA. And is also far and away the most common browsing device in the USA.

  • mingkee

    wait till T-Mobile 3G is active in more markets, then penetration will keep going up