Statistics recently released by 3Gtoday.com show that the number of 3G mobile users reached 196 million globally by July 2005. This is segmented into 148.8 million CDMA2000 1X users, 15.4 million CDMA2000 1xEV-DO users and 31.7 million WCDMA users.
According to Ying-yu Wang, an industry analyst at the Industrial Economics and Knowledge (IEK) Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, there are 82 functioning 3G networks around the world currently that use the WCDMA system. The three biggest telecom companies, NTT DoCoMo, the Hutchison 3G Group and the Vodafone Group account for more than 90% of WCDMA users.
As of July this year, about 26 mobile phone manufacturers had launched 186 models of 3G cell phones that use the WCDMA system. NEC, associated with NTT DoCoMo and the Hutchison 3G Group, led the field taking up 20% of global sales for WCDMA cell phones in the first half of this year. The company is followed by Nokia with 14% of sales last quarter, and Motorola and LG are tied for the third spot with 13% of sales. These four companies accounted for more than 60% of total WCDMA sales.
