WCDMA services are penetrating markets more slowly than analysts had first anticipated, according to the latest assessment from ABI Research.
The data-centric mobile communications platform looked set to enjoy rapid market success, but according to Lance Wilson, ABI Research's director of wireless research, "We have refined our appraisal of GSM/GPRS/EDGE versus WCDMA. The uptake of WCDMA is not likely to be as rapid as was once thought. It will show good growth, but there is still a lot of life left in GSM."
These conclusions form part of the latest release of the firm's "Wireless Base Station Research Service", which is supported by in-depth analysis of some of the key drivers of infrastructure deployment, supplier and operator trends, and is updated quarterly. The latest edition includes a new Subscriber Database, improved modeling, and the inclusion of FOMA WCDMA base stations in Japan.
"The rollout of WCDMA will continue," adds Wilson, "but service providers are also upgrading their GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, so it will take a little longer for WCDMA to become the ubiquitous standard in the GSM family of technologies
