Forging infrastructure partnerships for mobile connectivity
Our mission is to support the mobile industry to develop and implement commercially sustainable solutions to mobile broadband network coverage expansion.
Over 95% of the world’s population lives within the footprint of a 2G network but the reach of 3G mobile broadband capable networks, at around 70%, is much lower. The mobile broadband coverage gaps exist primarily in developing world markets (especially in Africa and Asia) where the technical and commercial challenges to network expansion are significant.
Areas without coverage often lack basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity. This means that it is significantly more expensive for mobile operators to deploy, power and maintain base stations and to install the backhaul capacity needed to provide end users with fast data connections. In addition to higher operating and capital costs, the revenue generating opportunity from base stations in rural areas is often greatly reduced compared to urban areas. To ensure mobile infrastructure is as efficient as possible in these areas and ultimately to benefit consumers, the GSMA supports our members in sharing mobile infrastructure.
The GSMA Infrastructure Economics team works with the mobile industry, governments and regulators to ensure the right enabling policy environment is in place to allow infrastructure sharing among service providers.
For more information, please visit GSMA Connected Society.