Thursday, 17 April 2008

HSPA Mobile Broadband Overtakes Fixed Broadband in Indonesia

The GSM Association (GSMA) announced that the number of mobile broadband (HSPA) connections in Indonesia has surpassed the number of fixed broadband connections. At the end of 2007, 315,000 Indonesians were accessing the Internet via this high-speed mobile technology, while fixed-broadband connections were approximately 300,000.

"Indonesia leads South East Asia in adopting mobile broadband services. To consolidate this leadership, it is essential that additional spectrum is released to mobile operators at a reasonable cost," said Ricardo Tavares, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the GSMA. He adds, it is also very important that Indonesia develops a medium-term spectrum plan that will enable mobile operators to make broadband services as widely-available and affordable as voice and SMS services.

Tavares also called on Indonesia to ensure that both domestic and foreign investors in mobile networks are on an equal footing so that the country can maximize investment in mobile broadband services.

According to Wireless Intelligence, a unit of the GSMA, today there are more than 32 million HSPA connections worldwide compared with just over 3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2007. Mobile Broadband continues to gain momentum as more and more operators upgrade their 3G networks with HSPA technology and a growing number of advanced HSPA handsets and modems arrive on the market.

On the other hand, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world with 245 million people and a mobile penetration rate of 39%. Indonesia has four HSPA networks—deployed by Indosat, Excelcom, Telkomsel, and Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

The number of HSPA Mobile Broadband networks worldwide increased by 44 percent to 166 between May 2007 and March 2008. More than 73 countries now have HSPA services. The GSMA estimates there are now more than 467 HSPA devices available worldwide compared with 128 devices in January 2007. These devices include mobile handsets, notebook PCs, data cards, wireless routers and USB modems.