HUA HIN: Global mobile broadband connections in the first quarter of this year rose by 850 percent from the same period last year, according to Herns Pierre-Jerome, director for wireless broadband technologies of Qualcomm.

The rapid growth, he said, illustrated how mobile broadband had become a mainstream data application of third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology, driven primarily by evolution-data optimised (EV-DO) and high-speed packet access (HSPA) systems.

Qualcomm is the original developer of 3G chipsets and software technology for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and WCDMA (Wideband).

Statistics by Strategy Analytics showed 3G technology accounted for 67 percent of mobile broadband connections, a figure projected to top 92 percent by 2012, Mr Pierre-Jerome said.

The number of 3G subscribers globally totals 670 million in a market of 3.5 billion mobile users. The figure is forecast to reach 1.6 billion over the next four years, fuelled by declining costs of network equipment and devices.

Telecom vendors and operators are expected to realise revenue of US$114 billion from 3G equipment and $394 billion from 3G services.

Qualcomm earned $10 billion in revenue in 2007, out of overall industry revenue of $352 billion.

Mr Pierre-Jerome said wireless broadband was evolving toward convergence of computing and communication devices through co-existence of multiple wireless technologies and Internet protocol (IP)-based networks.

Services evolution is shifting from wired to high-speed wireless with rich IP-based applications and content.

Mobile broadband services include voice over IP (VoIP), push-to-talk, multimedia uploads and exchanges, high-speed web browsing, streaming and downloads, video telephony and multicasting.

Kaneungjit Suriyathumrongkul, the country manager of Qualcomm Thailand, said the company was ready to promote the 3G market in Thailand, and was now providing 3G technologies through CDMA 2000 and WCDMA/HSPA.

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