Brazil : GSM, the world's leading mobile technology, is also fast on its way to becoming the top technology in the Americas. The latest white paper from 3G Americas entitled Wireless Trends in the Americas: The Proliferation of GSM 850 MHz and EDGE explores the reasons behind GSM's extraordinary success in the Americas including the important role played by the introduction of GSM 850 MHz equipment and the role of EDGE in the migration to next generation services.

Chris Pearson, co-author of the paper and Executive Vice President of 3G Americas commented, "There are 57 operators in the U.S. and Canada that have adopted GSM. Additionally, 84 operators in 45 countries in Latin America & Caribbean have chosen GSM." Pearson added, "Though GSM entered the Americas region later than other wireless technologies, operators have valued the many technical and business attributes of the technology and are now reaping the benefits of subscriber growth. GSM 850 has become prolific in the Americas, with 36 deployments completed or underway in the past twelve months."

This paper explores the growth of GSM in the Americas along with the simultaneous explosive uptake of EDGE by operators in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. Erasmo Rojas, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas and co-author of the paper commented further, "GSM is the ideal technology for the Latin America and Caribbean region which is characterized by the high elasticity of its customers. GSM provides the cost benefits due to economies of scale that may be handed down from operator to customer, the variety of terminals across all price levels for a market dominated by 80% prepaid customers, and also the availability of innovative applications and services to make GSM the number one technology selected by new customers throughout the Americas. The paper is rich with examples of success stories in the wireless market by GSM operators in Latin America and the Caribbean."

With GSM/GPRS in place, the Western Hemisphere is primed for the next generation step -- the deployment of EDGE. Pearson stated, "In recent months, the industry has witnessed a substantial increase of EDGE contracts awarded worldwide as well as the first EDGE commercial launches in the U.S. by Cingular Wireless, and others in Hong Kong, Thailand, Finland, Chile and the Philippines. On November 18, 2003, AT&T Wireless began offering EDGE services nationwide -- the fastest national mobile wireless data service in North America -- to a coverage area representing approximately 215 million people and with average data speeds nearly twice as fast as other national mobile wireless networks and up to three times faster than traditional wired dial-up services." Pearson concluded, "EDGE now reaches across North America and is spreading worldwide -- demystifying the notion held by some that EDGE was merely a technology for the Americas."

Conclusions of the paper include:

850 MHz spectrum has become a core spectrum band for GSM in the Americas.
The intrinsic attributes of GSM translate into lower Capital Expenditures for operators.
The global adoption of EDGE has been driven by the deployment of EDGE as the next step in the GSM evolution to UMTS: as a technically robust stand-alone 3G technology; and as a technology complementary to UMTS.
Benefits of EDGE include backwards compatibility with GSM/GPRS networks, more efficiency in spectrum capacity utilization, increased data throughputs, a plethora of content-rich applications, and low costs associated with the economies of scale associated with the GSM family of technologies

The entire Wireless Trends in the Americas: The Proliferation of GSM 850 MHz and EDGE white paper is available for free download in English, Spanish and Portuguese, from the 3G Americas' website: www.3gamericas.org.