Ariba, Ariba! – GSM is hot news for Latinos

According to the EMC World Cellular Database, in the year to the end of June the number of people signing up to GSM services in Latin America and the Caribbean leapt by 121%, making the technology the fastest growing wireless platform in the region. In the past five years GSM has proliferated quickly to cover 36 countries from just five in 1998. Today wireless carriers in the region operate 66 GSM networks and the technology has closed the gap on rival CDMA offerings. As if to further emphasise the point, GSM is proving to be the technology of choice for many operators as they migrate towards 3G services. In Brazil, nine of the twelve TDMA operators have opted for it ahead of CDMA, while in Mexico MoviStar has announced plans to move from CDMA to GSM.