The popularity of 3G services and its rapid growth worldwide can be judged from the fact that majority of the handsets being offered to consumers are now 3G compatible, reveals a new research from market research firm, Wireless Intelligence.

In mature markets, 3G devices account for about two-thirds of operator device portfolios mainly complimented by factors such as network coverage, lower device costs and operator focus on mobile broadband services.

According to Wireless Intelligence, Dedicated data-only mobile broadband devices - such as dongles and laptop datacards - represent around 15 percent of the total devices offered by global operators.

The research takes into reference figures for Q1 2010 and includes data shared by 36 key mobile operators in 19 countries across the globe. It takes into consideration handsets offered by operators via their online retail stores and hence does not reflects unit volumes or sales to end users.

There is still scope for further growth of 3G services with actual 3G connections being only one-third of total operator connections in mature markets and one in ten in emerging markets.

Wireless Intelligence says that total global mobile connections reached 5 billion at the beginning of the month with 3G (WCDMA) connections accounting for 11 percent (approx. 550 million) of the total.

"It's taken a long time for 3G devices to come-of-age as they have often suffered from high prices and poor design, but generous operator subsidies and unlimited data plans have helped to boost adoption in recent years," said Joss Gillet, Senior Analyst, Wireless Intelligence. "Our new research shows that most mobile operators around the world are now heavily promoting 3G-capable devices in order to tap into new mobile data revenues and push into mobile broadband." 

Sweden was deemed to be the world's most advanced 3G market, the study found. Over 90 percent of the devices offered by leading Swedish operators TeliaSonera and Telenor Sweden are 3G-enabled and both operators have more than half of their total customers migrated to 3G. This is significantly higher than the 3G share of total connections in Western Europe, which stands at 36 percent. Western Europe is also leading the way in HSPA, the faster version of WCDMA typically used for mobile broadband. The faster technology now represents 46 percent of the total WCDMA (Family) connections in the region, compared to 30 percent a year ago. Our study found that, on average in mature markets, the vast majority of 3G devices offered by mobile operators are HSPA-enabled, with only 5 percent of devices supporting only standard WCDMA. Meanwhile, in many emerging markets where fixed-broadband penetration is very low, HSPA networks typically provide the first means for consumers to access the Internet.

Despite the rise in 3G devices, most operators are still supporting widely-deployed GSM/EDGE (2G) networks via more affordable EDGE devices. According to the study, EDGE-enabled GSM devices account for 25 percent of operator handset portfolios in mature markets and 36 percent in emerging markets. In many cases, EDGE is still seen as a substitute for WCDMA networks as it benefits from better network coverage.

"In order to see 3G device portfolios grow to a level close to the most-advanced Swedish benchmark, network coverage will have to improve considerably in many markets," added Gillet. "Even though only one third of devices catalogued by operators are GSM, the 2G networks still account for around two thirds of connections in mature markets, and as much as 90 percent in many emerging markets."