While "unlimited" or high bandwidth plans are sustainable, providers will need to capitalize on excess bandwidth or face revenue dilution, he said.

"There is no problem from an engineering perspective; however, from a business angle these unlimited plans will heat up competition and cannibalize revenue," he said. "The key to 3G success is business; carriers will have to come up with something more exciting to increase margins - they should ask themselves 'how can we capitalize on this excess [3G bandwidth] capacity'?"

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), or 3.5G, extends 3G similarly to the way in which 2.5G evolved from 2G.

Chaisatien said HSDPA will be used initially by the larger carriers such as Hutchinson and Vodafone through 'all-you-can-eat' packages, and will be adopted industry-wide by mid 2007.

"We will see HSDPA implemented by one or two carriers by end of 2006, while almost all carriers will have it (in major capital cities) by mid-2007," he said. "I think this could easily be the new battleground for Christmas 2006, just like 3G was in [Christmas] 2005."