After years of market uncertainty, with investors wringing their hands and restructuring their finances, 3G has finally gained credibility, reports ABI Research.
'3G subscriptions, including cdma2000, are forecast to hit 285 million by the end of 2006,' says ABI Research's Asia-Pacific director, Jake Saunders, adding that 'operators' overall capital expenditure will grow for the fourth year to reach $126.4 billion, and annual 3G-related handset shipments should pull past 300 million.'
W-CDMA is starting to pull its weight in the 3G stakes, and is expected to overhaul cdma2000 by about 2012, but cdma2000 is certainly not out for the count: it has proved to be an efficient solution, the research firm said.
The research firm further said TD-SCDMA may be taking time to reach commercial reality in China, but it is already clear that Chinese infrastructure vendors, such as Datang Mobile, are re-engineering their solutions to offer a hybrid TD-SCDMA/HSDPA solution that makes the most of both technologies, ABI Research said.
'The exciting prospect is that national markets could be opening up to alternative access technologies more than ever before,' said Saunders. 'If the vendors of the new alternative 3G+ solutions can demonstrate that they can operate alongside existing 3G and even 2G infrastructures, the opportunities for new entrants could suddenly look a lot brighter.'