GSM has become the standard for wireless voice communication with more than 2.5 billion customers. It has also begun to play an integral role in 3G, with more than two-thirds of the estimated 200 million 3G users using WCDMA/HSPA technology for mobile broadband, according to a report by 3G Americas, a US-based industry association.

The report says that GSM technologies account for 85 percent of mobile wireless customers globally, and that more than half a billion new GSM subscriptions in the 12 months until June 2007 represents a growth rate of 29.5 percent worldwide.

The 3G standard is based on requirements of the International Telecommunications program called IMT-2000. The technology enables operators to offer users a range of advanced services with greater network capacity through improved efficiency.

3GSM services also include concurrent usage of multiple services and bridge the gap between wireless and internet/computing.

A report from Wireless Intelligence states that the majority of WCDMA family connections are based in two regions - Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

Quarterly growth for the WCDMA family as a whole, from the first to the second quarter of 2007, was 17.5 percent, and Japan led in the number of net additions with 4.5 million new additions for the quarter, or some 23 percent of the worldwide total.

NTT DoCoMo remains the largest operator for WCDMA family connections. The top five operators, based on the number of connections, accounted for nearly 50 percent of the WCDMA family base in Q2 2007. These are NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, 3 Italy, TIM Italy and Vodafone Italy.