The customer base for the GSM family of technologies – GSM, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA – grew by nearly 120 mln additional subscribers in Q1 2006 alone, compared to the total net growth of CDMA (including CDMA 20001x and EV-DO) of about 12 mln customers. Today, the 1.85 bln users of the GSM family of technologies make up more than 81% of the wireless mobile market worldwide, with total subscribers of CDMA at less than 300 mln and a 13% market share. There were 57 mln customers using UMTS services at the close of Q1 2006.
In the 12 months from Q1 2005 to Q1 2006, the GSM family of technologies showed continued growth throughout the Western Hemisphere, adding nearly 95 mln new customers (3.5 times as many as CDMA) and approaching 250 mln customers in this region alone. CDMA’s customer base in the region grew to a total of 169 mln in the same time period with 27 mln new customers and market share declining to 34.6%, along with TDMA to 11.6%.