Wireless Intelligence, the GSMA’s research group, expects that the total number of global mobile connections (such as GSM, CDMA, and LTE) will top 6 billion later this year. The milestone could be reached in late November with total connections topping 6.07 billion by the end of the year. The number is made more impressive by the fact that the world’s population is expected to top 7 billion by the end of October, implying a global mobile penetration rate of 86 percent (although multiple connections per person in many countries drive this number down).
Interesting facts from the report include the following:
- Growth was dominated by Asia, Africa, Brazil and China where over a billion connections were added in the last 16 months alone.
- China and India will each over one billion connections early next year.
- Six of the world’s top ten largest mobile markets will be in Asia-Pacific.
- Recording the strongest year-on-year connections growth of all the global regions, Africa will become the second largest region with 648 million connections by the end of the year.
- Easter Europe will have more connections than Western Europe (which has the weakest year-on-year growth) by the end of the year.
- GSM will account for 73 precent of connections in the fourth quarter, followed by WCDMA/HSPA with 16 percent and CDMA with 9 percent. LTE will account for 2 percent.
Impressive numbers and facts!
Source: GigaOM.com