The UMTS Forum announced that subscriptions to 3G/UMTS networks have reached 500 million! The milestone comes after about eight years after the world’s first commercial 3G/WCDMA network was launched by Japanese NTT DOCOMO.
Here are some other interesting figures from the press release:
- According to Wireless Intelligence, there are now over 300 UMTS family networks worldwide.
- Almost 40% of 3G/UMTS subscribers are connecting via HSPA networks.
- Over 35 HSPA+ networks are now commercialized, boosting theoretical peak data rates as high as 28 Mb/sec.
- Over 40 operators have already confirmed their plans to roll out LTE networks during 2010-2012.
Commenting on the milestone reached, UMTS Forum Chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaimé said: “While it took fixed telephone networks over a century to reach their first half billion customers, GSM achieved the same milestone in only a decade.”