UMTS signs up 50 million subs

3G Americas said today that global UMTS operators added 33 million 3G subscribers in 2005, bringing the total worldwide subscriber base for UMTS to nearly 50 million.

Though only a fraction of the estimated 2 billion global wireless subscribers, the UMTS sector is showing signs of ramping up much more quickly after its lackluster start in Japan in 2001. 3G Americas said that there are 99 operators in 45 countries that offer UMTS service. The majority has been in Europe and Japan, but the U.S., currently the largest market with UMTS, is set to add to the total. While AT&T Wireless launched UMTS in 2004 in six markets, Cingular's acquisition of that carrier quashed any further rollout or promotion of the service until its nationwide launch of its own 3G network, which began late last year. Cingular commercially launched a business 3G service in December and so far has only released laptop cards, but it is planning a consumer service for the first part of this year.

On the CDMA side, the CDMA Development Group has reported that 29 carriers have deployed 1xEV-DO networks worldwide, but has not released any numbers on total EV-DO subscribers.