3G Can Still Grow in Asia
How much momentum has Asia’s much-hyped 3G deployment garnered in this year? How potential this service to boost business and economic in this region? So how about other Southeast Asia countries who also run this technology?
According to some industry observers, Third-Generation (3G) in Southeast Asia, namely Malaysia and Singapore–currently the only two markets where such services are commercially available–has seen starkly different uptakes.
Figures from Singapore’s industry regulator Infcomm Development Authority, indicate that, as of end-April, 8 percent of the country’s 4.4 million mobile subscribers are 3G users–or over 360,000 users.
Alayne Wong, Asia-Pacific communications research manager at IDC, calls these numbers very encouraging.
In comparison though, Malaysia’s rate of growth has been significantly slower. According to Wong, as at the first quarter of 2006, only 0.6 percent of all mobile lines in the country are 3G.
This is double the 0.3 percent figure at the end of last year, but overall growth numbers remain very low. Wong attributes the poorer 3G take-up to the lack of national network coverage for 3G, which is unlike Singapore where there is island-wide network coverage.
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