3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE (News - Alert), has provided a summary of growth of 3GPP mobile broadband technology based on the subscription data from Informa Telecoms & Media, and all other research obtained by 3G Americas (News - Alert).

Informa Telecoms & Media conducts primary and secondary research on the latest trends impacting the mobile communications, fixed communications and TV sectors, on a global basis.

The 3GPP mobile broadband technology report shows a growth of 81 percent throughout the Americas by March 2010.

Propelled by an increase in 3G network deployments, upgrades to HSPA networks, mobile broadband subscriptions, netbooks and smartphones, operators are said to be reporting significant growth in revenue from data services.

'Mobile broadband is growing at an explosive rate throughout the Western Hemisphere as the investment by operators and manufacturers in networks and devices is delivering advanced services to customers,' Chris Pearson (News - Alert), president of 3G Americas said.

'This is evidenced by the strong growth of mobile broadband subscriptions in North, Central and South America,' Pearson added.

Total 3GPP subscriptions in the Western Hemisphere is said to have reached 621.7 million as of March 2010 capturing market share of 74 percent. Not only this, even the Latin America and Caribbean region continued to see a dramatic increase in market share for 3GPP technologies, rising to 92 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2010. This was supported by the addition of 20 million new 3GPP technology connections, of which 5 million were UMTS-HSPA connections.

'Mobile broadband adoption has contributed to the increase in overall broadband penetration in Latin America,' Erasmo Rojas, director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas said.

'The rising market share and the addition of 20 million new connections in the first quarter of 2010 clearly indicate an opportunity for massive growth in the region that already represents 10 percent of worldwide subscriptions,' Rojas added.

In fact, the Latin American operators are said to have shifted their focus from voice-centric (2G) services to data-centric (3G) services by addressing data value-added services and higher value users.

Reports also indicate that there are 56 UMTS-HSPA networks commercially deployed in 24 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the U.S. and Canada, 3GPP technologies is said to have added a net 2 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2010 and included in this number were 5 million new mobile broadband connections.

According to industry analyst Chetan Sharma, T-Mobile (News - Alert) USA has been experiencing the highest percentage of growth amongst its peers in mobile data service revenues for the quarter.

Globally, at the first quarter of this year, reports indicated that there were 4.3 billion 3GPP connections worldwide, with 3GPP mobile broadband subscriptions nearing the half billion point at 493 million UMTS-HSPA connections, a number that is said to still grow representing 11.4 percent of all subscriptions.

Worldwide, 346 commercial networks in 148 countries is said to offer UMTS-HSPA. The 3GPP technology roadmap, according to the company, will continue to evolve with the further evolution to LTE.