GSM for Rural and Regional Operators

GSM provides a smooth, cost-effective migration path to third generation (3G), particularly for operators serving rural areas and those that provide regional rather than national coverage.  There are over 60 GSM operators throughout the North American continent.

List of GSM rural and regional operators in the Americas

There are six key reasons why rural and regional operators are choosing GSM and its evolution to UMTS/HSPA:

1. Cost-effective migration: GSM offers a cost effective migration for rural and regional operators based on both its technical capabilities and business merits. GSM, EDGE and UMTS/HSPA has the largest number of infrastructure vendors and handset vendors providing competitive solutions for rural and regional wireless carriers.
   
   
2. New services: GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/HSPA are IP-based, packet technologies that support a wide range of innovative, revenue-generating data services, including Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), fast Web browsing, large file downloads and access to corporate email.  With peak rates of 115 Kbps and average throughput of 30-40 kbps, GPRS provides faster data access than circuit-switched analog and TDMA.  EDGE and UMTS/HSPA provide theoretical peak rates of 473 kbps and 14.4 Mbps, respectively, which are fast enough for rural operators to market as alternatives to dial-up, DSL and cable modem services for laptop and desktop users.  Meanwhile, GSM’s economies of scale, discussed below, help make wireless a viable alternative to wireline voice.
   
   
3. Flexibility: GSM, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS network infrastructure and user devices are available in multiple bands, giving operators the flexibility to deploy new services within their existing spectrum.  For example, operators have the option of deploying a GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA overlay alongside their TDMA or CDMA networks at 850 MHz and/or 1900 MHz. Signals travel farther at lower frequencies, so an GSM 850 MHz deployment is particularly attractive for rural areas because each cell site covers a large area, which reduces the number of sites necessary to cover a market with GSM/GPRS/EDGE. 
   
   GSM coverage in the Americas

4. Economies of scale: GSM/UMTS is the most widely available wireless technology in the world, available in more than 218 countries and territories worldwide. It's also the most widely used wireless technology, with more than two billion customers in the world, or more than 86% of the world's digital wireless customers. This market share drive large volumes of network infrastructure and user devices, which translate into lower costs for GSM operators. GSM's market share also attracts vendors and application developers, whose innovative content, services and devices help operators attract and retain customers.
   
   
5. Roaming: With inbound roaming typically driving an important portion of a rural operator’s total revenue, choosing a 3G technology with the largest market share ensures that roaming will remain an important revenue source.  With service in more than 218 countries and more than 2 billion customers worldwide, GSM offers the best opportunity for increasing roaming traffic in rural areas. 
   
   
6. Future migration to 3G and beyond: GSM and its migration to EDGE, UMTS/HSPA, and LTE provides a future-proof strategy for operators to improve capacity, introduce new services and applications thereby driving data service ARPU and realize important wireless data roaming revenues. For more information see the UMTS / HSPA 101 workshop presentations from August 2007.
   
   

Additional Information

3G Americas UMTS/HSPA 101 Workshop presentations (August 8, 2007)