InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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GSM to hit one billion subscribers by year end 2003 - 10 fold increase in


LONDON, UK, Jan 14, 2003 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) -- According to figures
released today by the GSM Association(x) (Ref 1), the voice of the world's
wireless industry, the GSM family of wireless communications continues to
dominate the wireless world. It is estimated that at the end of 2002 there were
787 million GSM subscribers across 190 countries of the world.

The growth of GSM continues unabated with more than 160 million new customers in
the last 12 months. Since 1997, the number of GSM subscribers has increased by a
staggering 10 fold. During late 2003 or early 2004, it is predicted that global
GSM subscribers will smash through the one billion mark.

Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA's CEO Board commented: "The impact that GSM
has made over the last decade cannot be understated. It has changed the world -
as signified by one in every 7 people on the planet that use GSM services today.
Growth continues at a pace - it now accounts for more than 72 per cent of the
world's digital wireless market - and we fully expect to achieve one billion
customers around the turn of this year.

"With such massive momentum, it is easy to understand why eight out of ten of
the world's digital wireless carriers, who have made their 3G technology
choices, have selected and invested billions of dollars in the GSM family
platforms of GPRS and W-CDMA as their next generation technologies of choice
globally," added Ehrlich.

As further evidence of GSM's continuing advance and evolution, the GSMA
confirmed today that there are more than 140 data enabled GPRS networks
commercially deployed with a further 40 currently in construction. Customers are
already beginning to enjoy advanced, feature rich data services, such as Mobile
Multimedia Services (MMS) including picture messages and other leading edge
wireless applications.

Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association said: "This consistent growth
demonstrates that GSM continues to be the most successful open standards model
in the wireless world and possibly the fastest growing technology ever."

GSM is a registered trademark, registered and owned by the GSM Association.

Reference 1:

(x) Statistics Source - GSM Association & EMC World Cellular Database


Web: www.gsmworld.com.

VIEW ADDITIONAL COMPANY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
http://www.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/inquiry.cgi?OKEY=39372


CONTACT: For further information: please contact: Mark Smith, GSM Association,
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-Mail:msmith(at)gsm.org

News release via Canada NewsWire, Toronto 416-863-9350

Copyright (C) 2003 CNW, All rights reserved

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KEYWORD: LONDON, UK
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TLS

(Wall Street)




Daniel Nieves