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4.1 Billion Mobile Subscriptions, and Counting!
Techtree News Staff, Mar 04, 2009 1443 hrs ISTThat translates to an amazing penetration rate of 61.1 percent of the human race!
If there is one technology that has managed to permeate across various national, cultural and physical roadblocks, it has to be mobile telephony - and a recent UN report seems to confirm the fact.
According to an ITU (International Telecommunication Union) report, there are as many as 4.1 billion mobile subscriptions in the world! That translates to an amazing penetration rate of 61.1 percent of the human race! On the other hand, the number of fixed line users' stands at a much lower 1.27 billion. These mind gobbling figures were released when the ITU released the ICT Development Index (IDI) report for 2008.
Much of the phenomenal growth has been recent with much of it coming in the last decade or so. The amount of growth can be judged from the fact that back in 2002, the penetration was reported to be just under 15 percent. The report also considers broadband connectivity and Internet accessibility to rate countries on their ICT development Index. Sweden tops this list and is followed by the likes of S.Korea, Denmark and Netherlands. India is ranked 118th - inspite of having a huge number mobile subscribers because of the large population and the fact that rural areas are yet to receive proper, stable broadband connectivity.
The only country to register negative growth in the list was Myanmar, which had its Internet access curtailed or even completely blocked at times.
According to an ITU (International Telecommunication Union) report, there are as many as 4.1 billion mobile subscriptions in the world! That translates to an amazing penetration rate of 61.1 percent of the human race! On the other hand, the number of fixed line users' stands at a much lower 1.27 billion. These mind gobbling figures were released when the ITU released the ICT Development Index (IDI) report for 2008.
Much of the phenomenal growth has been recent with much of it coming in the last decade or so. The amount of growth can be judged from the fact that back in 2002, the penetration was reported to be just under 15 percent. The report also considers broadband connectivity and Internet accessibility to rate countries on their ICT development Index. Sweden tops this list and is followed by the likes of S.Korea, Denmark and Netherlands. India is ranked 118th - inspite of having a huge number mobile subscribers because of the large population and the fact that rural areas are yet to receive proper, stable broadband connectivity.
The only country to register negative growth in the list was Myanmar, which had its Internet access curtailed or even completely blocked at times.
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