The telecoms industry has been boosted by new figures which reveal that it is on target to achieve one billion GSM subscribers worldwide by the end of 2003.
According to the
GSM Association, which represents a large number of second and third generation wireless industry companies, GSM attracted 160 million new customers last year.
Since 1997, the number of GSM subscribers has increased tenfold to 787 million and during late 2003 or early 2004, it is predicted that global GSM subscribers will top one billion.
“The impact that GSM has made over the last decade cannot be understated,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA’s CEO Board. “It has changed the world – as signified by one in every seven people on the planet that use GSM services today.”
Growth continues apace and GSMA confirmed that there are now more than 140 data enabled GPRS networks commercially deployed with a further 40 in construction. Operators have expressed concern at slow consumer uptake but there are signs that advanced data functions such as Mobile Multimedia Services (MMS) are increasing in popularity.
Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association commented: “This consistent growth demonstrates that GSM continues to be the most successful open standards model in the wireless world and possibly the fastest growing technology ever.”
