The number of mobile phone subscribers has doubled in the past five years. This figure is expected to rise by 10 percent to 5.6 billion in 2011. The growth in developing and emerging countries is especially strong. According to the most recent data from the UN agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU), more than half the homes in these countries, even in rural areas, have a mobile phone connection. Landlines are rarely found or not at all. In the EU the number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to rise to around 650 million by the end of 2010. This is a growth of almost 3 per cent compared to the previous year. Nearly a third of these now use UMTS. Germany has the most mobile phone contracts in the EU: around 111 million by the end of 2010. Germany is followed by Italy (87 million), Great Britain (81 million), France (62 million) and Spain (57 million). By comparison: There are an anticipated 220 million in Russia and 287 million in the USA.
The use of mobile communications is increasing far more in Asia and South America than in Europe and North America. In China, the number of mobile phone subscribers has risen by almost 13 percent this year to around 844 million. This figure is expected to grow by one-tenth within the next year to 930 million. In India, the number of subscriptions will go up by 30 per cent to 680 million. In Brazil, there will be 193 million connections by the end of the year; a growth of 11 percent. Japan is technically very advanced: 96 percent of all mobile communications users already use UMTS.
(eito.com, August 2010)
