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As notebooks with embedded 3G and, soon, WiMAX, become key drivers of mobile broadband uptake and cellco growth, the GSM Association has formed a new initiative to drive adoption still more rapidly.

The trade group has brought together 16 vendors and service providers, including Microsoft , Dell, Toshiba, Qualcomm and T-Mobile. In phase one, the new group will work together to pre-install mobile broadband in PCs in 91 countries. These notebooks will carry a special GSMA mobile broadband logo to help build awareness, plus participating companies plan to spend more than $1bn over the next year promoting the technology.

This can be seen as a fightback by the 3G community against Wi-Fi and WiMAX, and the association of those technologies with laptops, to the exclusion of 3G and LTE (especially in north America). Beau Beck, senior director of business development for Qualcomm's Connected and Wireless Modules group, said confusion about different embedded technologies was one barrier to adoption. Only devices that use the GSM family of systems, including HSPA and LTE, will carry the mobile broadband logo.

Other companies participating in the initiative include 3 Group, Asus, ECS, Ericsson, Gemalto, Lenovo, Orange, Qualcomm, Telefonica Europe, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera and Vodafone.

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