GSM is the world's dominant mobile phone standard and has captured 64% market share in the Americas, 3G Americas said Thursday. There were 110 million new GSM subscriptions in the Western Hemisphere in 2007 and the trade organization cited market research studies that predict GSM subscriptions will hit 636 million by the end of 2012.
"Operators and customers around the world are benefiting from their move to 3G," said Chris Pearson, president of 3G Americas, in a statement. "As customer demand for anytime, anywhere access increases, operators can now provide more voice capacity and enhanced data throughput, while reaping the growing revenues that result from data services."
3G Americas also said consumers are moving to UMTS/HSPA and predicted 186 million consumers will have signed up for the robust service by the end of 2012; UMTS/HSPA is backward compatible with older GSM technology. There are 211 UMTS commercial networks in service in the region, an increase from 155 UMTS operating networks last year.
In the United States, the GSM standard is primarily used by AT&T and T-Mobile, while the CDMA standard is utilized by Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and Alltel. However, 3G Americas noted that Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, has decided to eventually move to the GSM-based LTE standard.
One GSM provider, Gemalto North America, reported that it shipped one billion GSM SIM cards last year.