A new survey of 3G deployments worldwide by GSA – the Global mobile Suppliers Association, reports that 116 GSM/EDGE networks have launched commercial services in 70 countries, compared with 35 networks launched just 12 months earlier. GSA also confirms that 169 operators in 91 countries have committed to EDGE deployments, which represents a clear majority – over 58%, of the world’s 290 commercial GSM/GPRS operators.  In terms of 3G/WCDMA there are now 87 networks in 39 countries in commercial service, more than 30% up compared to 6 months previously. A further 6 networks are at pre-commercial phase. A total of 146 WCDMA licenses in the IMT - 2000 band have been awarded worldwide in 52 countries. The accelerating pace of 3G rollout means that almost two-thirds of these operators are now delivering commercial 3G mobile multimedia services using WCDMA. There were 32.2mn 3G/WCDMA subscribers at August 31, 2005, with growth of 2mn per month.
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