In the first quarter of 2005 alone, 19 million new customers accessed GSM networks in the Americas, raising the total number of GSM subscribers to 136 million across the region. Hadden attributes this growth to a number of factors: "First, handsets have come down in price, putting them within financial reach of more people in Latin America and the Caribbean," he says. "Second, operators in the region have expanded their coverage, increased capacity and improved the quality of service of their networks, ensuring greater reliability.
"Third, there is a fundamental need for mobile phones in growth markets for those that don't already have them. In some places, mobile telephony is the only option for telecommunications. And finally, in more mature markets, we are seeing more customers taking out multiple subscriptions for mobile services, such as a private subscription and one for business. As the total package for mobile telephony – the prices of phones and subscriptions – has dropped, more people in the region are signing up."
Latin and Central America showed the greatest GSM subscriber growth, almost 170 percent during 2004, rising to 61.9 million. This was due in large part to greater mobile phone penetration. In Brazil alone, mobile penetration increased from 26.2 percent in 2003 to 36.6 percent in 2004. Strong GSM growth was also evident in the US and Canada, where 7 million new subscribers signed up in the first quarter of 2005, bringing the total number of subscribers for the region to 62 million.
In the Dominican Republic, one of the fastest-growing markets in the region, Orange Dominicana is expanding its GSM/GPRS network with the help of Ericsson to increase coverage and improve quality of service.
As GSM growth continues apace, operators are looking for ways to get the most out of their networks. Ericsson's Capacity Growth offering helps operators maximize their GSM networks through advanced software and flexible hardware, lower cost-per-voice-minute by up to 85 percent, and ready themselves for anticipated traffic growth.
