How far advanced is the rollout of 3GSM?
With former non-GSM countries such as Japan and Korea deploying GSM, dual mode GSM/3GSM handsets will in due course provide truly global mobile services to users. Of the 123 licences in 35 countries that have been issued for the deployment of 3G networks in new (2GHz) 3G spectrum, 98.4% have chosen to deploy 3GSM technology. Of these, 38 operators were offering live 3GSM services in mid April 2004 in a total of 23 countries in Asia , Europe and the Arab States . Approximately 70 operators are expected to have launched 3GSM services by the end of 2004.
