UMTS Forum: 3G/UMTS Subscriptions have reached 500 million

The UMTS Forum (www.umts-forum.org) confirms that subscriptions to 3G/UMTS networks have reached 500 million. The milestone comes just over eight years after the world’s first commercial 3G/WCDMA network was launched by Japanese operator NTT DOCOMO.

“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”, comments UMTS Forum Chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaimé.

According to data from mobile information provider Wireless Intelligence, there are now over 300 UMTS family networks worldwide. The half-billion total includes almost 40% of 3G/UMTS subscribers who are enjoying an enhanced mobile broadband experience via HSPA networks. Figures also confirm that over 35 HSPA+ networks are now commercialised, boosting theoretical peak data rates as high as 28 Mb/sec. Following on from the world’s first commercialised LTE networks launched by TeliaSonera in central urban areas of Stockholm and Oslo, over 40 operators have already confirmed their plans to roll out networks during 2010-2012.