4 BILLION WORLDWIDE MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS BY YEAR-END

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates that the worldwide mobile cellular subscriber base will reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year. The year-on-year growth of mobile cellular subscribers has averaged 24% between 2000 and 2008. While in 2000, mobile penetration stood at just 12%, it surpassed the 50% mark by early this year, and is expected to reach about 61% by the end of year-end. The surge in the mobile cellular subscriber base is mainly attributable to development in some of the world’s largest markets. Brazil, Russia, India, and China are expected to account for over 1.3 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2008. China surpassed the 600 million mark by mid-2008, representing by far the world’s largest mobile market, while India had close to 296 million mobile subscribers by the end of July this year but with a relatively low penetration rate of about 20% indicating high-growth potential. ITU recently published two reports for Africa and Asia, discussing the developments of mobile telephony in the regions. While mobile broadband subscribers remain concentrated in the developed world, a number of developing countries, including Indonesia, the Maldives, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka in Asia-Pacific have launched 3G networks. -Smarajit Dasgupta