3GSM 2005 Photo Coverage
Cannes, France
February 14 - 15, 2005
It only takes a trek to Europe to realize that the US lives in its own cloistered cellular world. As the US cellular industry still struggles with coverage and quality, Europe has passed these issues many years ago. As Europe demonstrates improved services, data rates and global reach, Verizon gets hit with a class action suit, or an attempt at one in California, because it disables Bluetooth on phones for external connectivity. It is not hard to realize why WiMAX is a feeble attempt to assert wireless leadership but the reality is that the European’s are miles or should we say kilometers ahead.
Bordering on one of the “worst conference” experiences has to be 3GSM in Cannes, France. The best analogy is holding CES in Rehoboth, Maryland. All that changes next year as this event moves to Barcelona, Spain. But in spite of the fact that some of the tent booths are on sand as this event “spills” to the beach, this is the place to be. The conference schedule is packed and all the major players are here. This is a global market and both the booths and attendees reflect that also.
The industry is beaming after the telecommunications slow down as now it is looking up. Last year GSM subscribers topped 1B and this year was the largest subscriber growth ever at 300m. There is now 27% world penetration. Last year 16 new countries were added to the GSM fold. 3G is also a success story with 19m WCDMA subscribers. But just as important HSDPA is beginning and this will take the industry to new capabilities in terms of bandwidth and latency.
Updated on 2/18/06
