3G technology has been developing fast all over the world. Over 415 million people worldwide already use 3G phones. And east Asia is where they are most widely used.

Japan started to open the 3G market as early as 2000. Now over 100 million Japanese use 3G phones, that's 80 percent of the country's mobile phone users. South Korea opened the market a year after Japan. By the end of last year, nearly 16 million Koreans were using 3G phones, a third of all the country's mobile phone users, making South Korea the second most popular country for 3G technology.

Europe now has persuaded 28 percent of mobile phone users to switch to 3G. All European countries use one standard WCDMA, making cross-country service very convenient.

The US market has 64 million 3G users and the country's telecom firms plan to expand the network soon, as they decide 3G is the real future of phones.

(CCTV January 8, 2009)