The adoption of smartphones on the market has increased significantly during the past few quarters, and most of you might already know that these devices are expected to drive the mobile phone market upwards. In addition, the mobile phone segment of the market is also expected to increase greatly in emerging countries, which will drive the total number of mobile subscribers to new heights, or at least this is what a recent report from Infonetics Research shows.

According to the research firm, the total number of mobile subscribers all around the world is expected to reach a number of 5.9 billion by 2013. Infonetics Research also shows that the total number of mobile subscribers in 2008 was four times larger than that of access line subscribers (3.9 billion vs. 1 billion). Moreover, the number grew by 17.4 percent during last year, compared to the previous one, while the number of access line subscribers declined by 5.5 percent.

“The global recession did not prevent people from using communication services, but it clearly accelerated the pace of wireline-to-mobile substitution. China, which had half a billion mobile subscribers in 2008, and India together make Asia Pacific the world's largest mobile subscriber region, now and into the future. The EMEA region is next, with strong growth driven by Africa. Mobile subscriptions will continue to grow strongly over at least the next five years, driven mainly by basic voice service needs in these regions, particularly in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China),” estimates Stephane Teral, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure.

As the research firm indicates, access lines have started to disappear faster in North America and China, mainly due to a greater fixed-to-mobile transition, as well as courtesy of switching from copper to fiber lines, and affected by the recession. Users preferred to get rid of the landline, but kept their mobile or smartphone. The number of PON FTTH subscribers around the globe should increase at a compound annual growth rate of around 32 percent between 2008 and 2013, the research firm concluded.