Mobile broadband is gaining traction

Mobile broadband is a success story and mobile operators are calling for regulatory initiatives to unlock spectrum availability. Telstra has been paving the way in terms of successful high-speed network adoption. The Australian operator has deployed a nationwide HSPA network and announced at Congress the launch of its 21Mb/s modem, delivering typical downlink data rates of up to 8Mb/s. Telstra is reporting tremendous growth in mobile broadband adoption and argued that as coverage and bandwidth increase, "the value of the network goes up log linearly." In Western Europe, operators have deployed HSPA networks mainly in urban areas, limiting its mass market appeal. Mobile operators have to invest to improve HSPA network coverage to reach mass market opportunities and deliver good user experience. The numbers released so far are showing slow - but encouraging - adoption with T-Mobile announcing that it sold 60,000 HSPA enabled laptops across its markets, and Telstra reporting in June 2008 it had 588,000 'wireless broadband' subscribers (dongles and laptops) which represents around 6 percent of its total subscriber base.

(This article is part of a series of follow-ups on Mobile World Congress 2009 from the GSMA Intelligence team.)