14 DAY TRIAL // The number of mobile subscriptions the world is expected to see by the end of the ongoing year is reportedly heading for 4.6 billion, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said recently. Moreover, it seems that mobile broadband subscriptions are also expected to rise, reaching 600 million in number, showing that the economical downturn hasn't affected the mobile phone market as much as expected.
Developing countries are those expected to see the most impressive growth when it comes to the presence of mobile technologies on the market, given the fact that a wide range of nations are currently launching and offering IMT2000/3G networks and services commercially. Even so, the presence of mobile broadband in some areas is still a reduced one, and ITU indicated African countries as examples.
The Internet has already reached more than one quarter of the world's population, and more and more users are choosing the adoption of high-speed Internet access, while the number of fixed broadband subscribers should reach 500 million by the end of 2009, being three times higher than the 150 million subscribers registered in 2004.
Hamadoun Toure, ITU secretary-general said, “ICTs (Information and communication technologies) are vital within developing countries to ensure that ordinary people can fully participate in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. We have seen a positive impact on services such as health and education in markets where ICT growth has been strong.”
According to ITU, converged devices (smartphones) have a great market potential when it comes to developing countries, given the fact that they bring together the mobile, television and Internet worlds, and that TV adoption is already registering an impressive growth in these areas. The growth of high-speed Internet in developed countries contrasts with the one in emerging markets (200 subscribers per 1,000 people in Europe, compared to 1 subscriber per 1,000 people in Africa). However, the presence of ICT services in developing markets is expected to grow most rapidly.