Explosive Growth for GSM and UMTS/HSPA in Americas: 67% Share of Market

BELLEVUE, WA, Aug 27 (MARKET WIRE) --
3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM
family of technologies, including LTE, today reports on the continued
expansion of wireless services throughout the Western Hemisphere and the
explosive growth of increasing GSM/HSPA subscriptions. In one year ending
June 30, 2008, GSM/HSPA added more than 115 million subscriptions in the
Americas region with a market share of 67%. According to industry
research firm, Informa Telecoms & Media, global GSM/HSPA wireless
subscriptions as of June 30, 2008 totaled 3.2 billion, adding more than a
million new subscriptions for the GSM family of technologies per day
worldwide.

Informa forecasts subscriptions to UMTS/HSPA will number
nearly half a billion worldwide by the end of 2009, and will pass the one
billion mark in 2012. Total GSM/HSPA connections will number just over
3.9 billion by the end of 2009 according to Informa's forecasts.

GSM operators throughout North, Central and South America continue to
evolve their networks to UMTS/HSPA. To date, there are 29 commercial
UMTS-HSPA networks in the Americas region in 16 countries, and that number
is accelerating with the economies of the global GSM ecosystem, 231
commercial UMTS/HSPA networks worldwide, and the availability of more
than 700 UMTS/HSPA devices.

"Excitement is being generated in the wireless industry today as feature
rich devices are introduced with user-friendly applications for
entertainment, enterprise, social networking and commerce powered by
UMTS/HSPA mobile broadband," said Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas.
"Complete mobile connectivity through GSM technologies for customers is
generating an increasing percentage of total revenue in wireless data
services averaging about 20% in North America for many operators today."

In the Western Hemisphere, GSM/HSPA added a total of 115.4 million
subscriptions from June 2007-June 2008, of which 8.5 million were 3G
subscriptions. There were 472 million total subscriptions to GSM/HSPA
networks as of the end of the 2Q 2008 throughout the Americas --
approaching half a billion subscriptions.

The number of subscriptions in Latin America continues to grow
tremendously with a penetration rate of all wireless technologies
reaching 72% in 2Q 2008 according to Informa. This penetration rate has
resulted primarily from the growth of the GSM family of technologies with
a total of nearly 354 million subscriptions and 85% share of market. CDMA
subscriptions continue to decline and as of 2Q 2008 totaled 48 million,
down from 59 million one year earlier.

Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas
stated, "We continue seeing deployments and numerous expansions of 3G
HSDPA services by GSM operators throughout Latin America coupled with
increasing penetration rates. There is still a lot of growth potential
for new customers and even greater opportunity with the expansion of 3G
services to both post paid and prepaid users. HSDPA deployments by 25
operators in 14 countries are contributing to these improved operator
revenues in value added services such as e-mail push, downloads of music
and video and access to social networks."

For more information and to see a variety of statistical charts on the GSM
family of technologies, visit www.3gamericas.org.

About Informa Telecoms & Media

Informa Telecoms & Media provides business intelligence and strategic
services to the global telecoms and media markets. All of our products and
services -- from news, trend analysis and forecasting to industry data,
face-to-face events and training -- are driven by our deep understanding
of the markets we serve and by our goal to help our clients make better
business decisions. www.informatm.com

About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology

3G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of
telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's
mission is to promote and facilitate the seamless deployment throughout
the Americas of the GSM family of technologies, including LTE. 3G
Americas has contributed to the successful commercial rollout of GSM
across the Americas and its place as the number one technology in the
region, as well as the global adoption of EDGE. The organization aims to
develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and
applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 3G Americas is
headquartered in Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America and the
Caribbean in Dallas, Texas. More information is available at
www.3gamericas.org.

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