50 million now have HSPA

The number of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) connections has risen from 11 million to 50 million in one year, according to the GSM Association (GSMA).

This growth is expected to continue, with the number of connections increasing by four million per month by the end of the year.

The most popular peak data speeds range between 3.6Mbps and 7.2Mbps (providing an end-user speed of over 1 Mbps) which compares favourably with many fixed-line services, according to the GSMA.

"These figures highlight the global success of mobile broadband and the fact that we are continuing to see greater and greater economies of scale," said GSMA chief executive Rob Conway.

"This is driving down the cost of devices and equipment and enabling more and more users across the world to enjoy easy access to media-rich services anywhere at anytime."

Other figures released by the GSMA include that there are currently 191 operators with commercial HSPA networks and 116 manufacturers provide 740 HSPA-enabled devices, such as mobiles, notebooks and dongles.