3G to be the norm by 2009

While 2004 may turn out to be Europe's year of 3G launches, it won't be the year of 3G take up.

At least that seems to be the case according to the latest study from consultancy Analysys. It forecasts 3G users will rise from 600,000 at the end of last year to 27 million by the end of 2005.

The market has so far seen only a handful of launches of 3G, in Europe almost exclusively based on the W-CDMA upgrade of GSM networks. Hutchison's 3 networks in countries such as Italy, Sweden and the UK hogged the headlines for some time but now larger operators are launching.

Vodafone has chosen to launch 3G with a data-card offering - a service still not offered by 3 - and other major players such as Orange, TIM and T-Mobile have promised 3G handsets in time for the crucial last quarter of the year.

Looking ahead much further, Analysys reckons that by 2009, 70 per cent of all Western European subscribers will have a '3G-enabled device'.

As users transition to the higher-speed networks, there is also thought to be a role for GPRS to play, with the research finding revenues will peak at €63bn in 2007 before dropping back as 3G becomes more common.