The Next Web

112 million Europeans hooked on 3G

Written on June 12, 2008 – 8:04 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

According to the GSM Association, the EU’s mobile data market grew by 40 percent to 7 billion Euros in 2007- text messages not included. Operators invested more than 20 billion Euros in enhancing their mobile networks and services.

This has paid off, as in the year to April 2008, the number of 3G users in the EU doubled to 112 million, that’s 22.5 percent of all Europeans. And here comes one exciting conclusion: Europe has adopted 3G faster than any other region of the world. In North America, 18.4 percent of the people are using 3G, in the Asia-Pacific region the percentage is 3.7.

One of the reasons for this major increase is 3G adoption is competition from technologies like Wi-Fi, since it makes the prices drop. Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer of the GSMA said in the press release that “this gives mobile users the convenience of being able to access email, the Internet and other multimedia services wherever they travel within Europe. We expect prices to continue to fall as operators further innovate around tariffs and more and more Europeans use these services as a part of their everyday lives.”

I wonder how big the influence of the upcoming iPhone 3G will be. That shiny object might boost the number of adopters even more.

I hope you like that post!

The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our 'About' page and subscribe to our RSS feed.

Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!

3g, Europe, gsma, iphone, mobile, shiny object, wifi, wireless