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Global mobile subscriptions to reach 7 bln by year-end - ITU
Tuesday 26 May 2015 | 16:21 CET | News Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on linkedin Share on google_plusone_share More Sharing Services
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There will be more than 7 billion mobile subscriptions in the world by the end of this year, up from 738 million in 2000, according to a report by the ITU.

Globally, 3.2 billion people will be using the internet, including 2 billion in developing countries. Internet penetration is expected to jump to 43 percent from 6.5 percent, with the proportion of households with internet access at home advanced to 46 percent this year from 18 percent in 2005.

Still, the ITU believes 4 billion people in the developing world will remain offline by year-end. Off the nearly 1 billion people living in the Least Developing Countries (LDCs), 851 million do not use the internet.

Meanwhile, mobile broadband is the most dynamic market segment, with mobile-broadband penetration globally set to reach 47 percent, up 12-fold from 2007. By year-end, 69 percent of the global population will be covered by 3G mobile broadband, up from 45 percent in 2011. As to 3G mobile broadband in rural areas, ITU estimates that 29 percent of the 3.4 billion people worldwide living in rural areas will be covered by 3G by the end of the year. Among the four billion people living in urban areas, 89 percent will have access to 3G mobile broadband.

Fixed-broadband uptake is growing at a slower pace with a 7 percent annual increase over the past three years. While the prices of fixed-broadband services dropped sharply between 2008 and 2011 in developing countries, they have been stagnating since then and even increased slightly in LDCs.

The report showed that broadband is now affordable in 111 countries, with the cost of a basic (fixed or mobile) broadband plan corresponding to less than 5 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, meeting the target set by the Broadband Commission for Digital Development. The global average cost of a basic fixed-broadband plan, as measured in PPP$ (or purchasing power parity $), is 1.7 times higher than the average cost of a comparable mobile-broadband plan.

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