As WCDMA Networks Grow, WCDMA's Role Becomes Defined, According to a New Visant Strategies Report.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2004

Although off to slower start than originally expected, WCDMA is showing regained promise, according to a new study from Visant Strategies. Current WCDMA deployments have no more than small parts of nations covered, albeit some very atypical rollouts exist, but the need for voice capacity and a high-end data niche will allow WCDMA carriers to do well, the study finds.

According to "WCDMA: Promise of Success 2004," close to 80,000 WCDMA base stations are live as of 1Q 2004 and shipments of WCDMA infrastructure will continue to rise, driven by coverage requirements in Europe and market developments in Japan.

"WCDMA is expected to enjoy greater than sixty percent penetration in both Japan and Western Europe in 2009," said report author Andy Fuertes, a Visant senior analyst. "WCDMA will play a lesser role outside of these areas due to limited demand for enhancements in voice capacity in the short term, although it is reemerging as an option in North America, due to increasing competition from other air interfaces."

One critical assumption made in the study is the ability for the wireless industry to produce a capable and relatively inexpensive WCDMA phone during the 2005 to 2007 timeframe, allowing unknowing 2G and 2.5G users to be ported over to WCDMA seamlessly. Gradual improvements in content, applications, input/output, and screen technology will drive broad interest in mobile Internet services but handset cost and requirements for voice capacity are the triggers which will lead carriers to migrate their existing user base to WCDMA.

Also, although current ARPU to WCDMA services is 30% higher than the average ARPU derived from 2G users, such increases are unsustainable within mass-market acceptance. Today the potential WCDMA user is defined by price conscious, prepaid consumers in most of the markets in which the technology has been deployed.

The just-published study provides global and regional annual WCDMA infrastructure shipments, deployments and revenues and global and regional WCDMA chipset shipments and revenues for 2003-2009. It also details global and regional annual WCDMA subscribers and WCDMA handset shipments for 2003-2009. Also detailed are the impact of competitors to WCDMA, such as 802.20, CDMA2000, EDGE, and TD-SCDMA.

For more information, go to www.visantstrategies.com or email [e-mail] or call Visant Strategies at [phone].