Asia Pacific LTE Connections to Surpass 120 Million by 2015

China to account for almost half of all LTE connections

HONG KONG, November 16, 2010 - The number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific will exceed 120 million by
2015, according to new data released today by Wireless Intelligence. This
aggressive growth will be spearheaded by China with the country expected to
account for nearly half (57.9 million) of the total number of LTE connections
in Asia Pacific during this period. Major Asian countries are currently
driving HSPA and LTE Mobile Broadband uptake to boost productivity, enhance
GDP and build more efficient, information-based economies.

Behind China, the three largest LTE markets in the Asia Pacific region in
2015 will be: Japan, with 26.5 million connections; Indonesia with 13.1
million connections; and South Korea with 9.8 million connections.

Significant growth is also anticipated in other leading Asia Pacific
countries including Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan as mobile
operators and vendors embrace the additional capacity and enhanced throughput
for next-generation Mobile Broadband services that LTE offers. Access to
high-speed LTE-enabled Mobile Broadband will facilitate a wide variety of
socio-economic benefits across Asia Pacific that will empower education,
improve health services, increase trade and drive innovation. Critically, the
establishment of widespread broadband connectivity across the region will
sustain economic development through enhanced levels of productivity.

"LTE technology continues to enjoy strong growth in the Asia Pacific
region with clear intentions from NTT DoCoMo and CSL to launch commercial LTE
networks this year," said Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer, GSMA. "An
additional 36 LTE networks are currently being planned across Asia Pacific.
This strong momentum is reflective of the sustained rise in consumer demand
for data, the absence of fixed line infrastructure in many parts of the
region and the need to provide the necessary network capacity to enable
next-generation mobile services."

"The introduction of high-speed LTE will increase demand for mobile
Internet and Mobile Broadband in Asia Pacific. Among many possible adoption
scenarios, the release of digital dividend spectrum will play an important
role in connecting consumers to these new networks," said Joss Gillet, senior
analyst, Wireless Intelligence.

The significant progress made by the GSMA and its members to enable voice
functionality over LTE networks is also driving LTE traction in the Asia
Pacific region. The GSMA's VoLTE initiative, which is focused on developing a
single common solution for providing voice over LTE, now has more than 80
participants from the world's mobile operator and vendor community. The GSMA,
together with ZTE and CSL, will be showcasing this progress at Mobile Asia
Congress this week, delivering a live demonstration of the VoLTE client in
action over a test LTE network.

"As a pioneer in the deployment of LTE/DC-HSPA+ technology, CSL fully
supports GSMA's VoLTE initiative," said Joseph O' Konek, chief executive
officer, CSL Limited. "We have successfully tested VoLTE on our network and
we are ready to join our fellow operators worldwide in a voice implementation
that is used by the entire industry because this will ultimately benefit
customers by giving them access to a huge variety of devices that will work
across any network."

China's major operators, including China Mobile and China Unicom, are
backing LTE. Following its recent test network deployment at Shanghai World
Expo, China Mobile will begin the construction of TD LTE pilot networks to
test the technology in major Chinese cities from next year. The supporting
ecosystem for TD LTE technology continues to build globally, driving
economies of scale for other operators. TD LTE technology is set for
deployment in India and is also attracting the attention of WiMAX operators
in the US who are contemplating LTE migration in the future. China Unicom is
due to conclude LTE trials next year and China Telecom is also likely to
launch LTE in the future.

The countries expected to drive the Asia Pacific LTE market currently
have a strong HSPA and HSPA+ installed base from which to migrate. According
to the latest statistics from Wireless Intelligence, there are 120 million
HSPA connections in the Asia Pacific region. HSPA has achieved 90% growth in
Asia Pacific over the past 12 months. In the same period, total mobile
connections in the region grew by just 23%, demonstrating the momentum that
HSPA is building. The largest HSPA markets in Asia Pacific currently include
South Korea with 30 million connections, Japan with 28 million, Australia
with 13 million and China with 10 million.

Since both LTE and HSPA are members of the GSM family of technologies,
all mobile operators deploying HSPA will benefit from a clear upgrade path to
LTE. Both technologies also benefit from the global GSM ecosystem that
currently supports more than 350 million HSPA connections globally, drives
down equipment and device costs while enhancing consumer choice.

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications
industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's
mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers,
Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is
focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its
membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile
communications industry.

About Wireless Intelligence

Wireless Intelligence is the definitive source of mobile operator data,
analysis and forecasts. Relied on by a customer base of over 700 of the
world's mobile operators, device vendors, equipment manufacturers and leading
financial and consultancy firms, the data set is the most referenced in the
industry. With over 5 million individual data points - updated daily - the
service provides coverage of the performance of all 940 operators and 640
MVNOs across 2,200 networks, 55 groups and 225 countries worldwide.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online
portal for the mobile communications industry, at
www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at
www.gsmworld.com.

Brian Paterson, +852-9755-3310, or Tracy Cheung, +852-9366-7761, mac at ebacomms.com; or Daniel Lowther, +44-7747-636-687, press at gsm.org