Growth Returning to Worldwide Mobile Subscriber Market

Through 2007, GSM will see steady growth as it expands its worldwide footprint and as customers continue to migrate from older airlink technology. In-Stat/MDR has also found that: While China continues to lead the world in overall subscriber growth, the percentage growth leaders continue to be found in other parts of Asia, particularly the Southern Asia region, which includes India. As growth in China begins to slow, India can be expected to pick up the slack and will be a significant engine of global subscriber growth. European subscriber growth will continue to slow, and will stall in Scandinavia (the worlds first fully mature wireless market) and Western Europe. In the United States, iDEN, represented almost exclusively by Nextel, will see strong growth; however, it is likely that iDEN networks will be phased out sometime during the forecast, resulting in a shift of these subscribers to another airlink, most likely CDMA. The report, Growth Returns - Worldwide Mobile Subscriber Forecasts 2004 - 2009, provides detailed worldwide forecasts for wireless subscriber growth from 2004 through 2009, as well as subscriber estimates for 2003. Forecasts are segmented by country, region, and by airlink. The forecasts show trends that pinpoint at what point subscribers growth will strengthen or decline for each country and region. Importantly, it forecasts which airlinks will dominate each region.