Feature

3.5G to boom

The number of 3.5G mobile broadband subscribers worldwide will boom more than tenfold, from 2.5m in 2006 to more than 300m in 2011, according to Informa Telecoms & Media.

The lack of a wide range of “compelling” handsets will slow mass-market take-up of 3.5G in 2006-07, but that will improve in 2008. By 2011, Informa says, 85% of 3.5G devices sold will be handsets; the remaining 15% will be notebooks and PC cards.