The telecom market worldwide was worth US$1.18 trillion in 2006, and surged to $1.25 trillion in 2007, with more than half coming from mobile services, and more than 30 percent from developing countries, according to IDATE.

Numbers of fixed lines totalled 1.25 billion in 2006 and climbed to 1.26 billion in 2007, reaching 20 percent of the global population, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

The number of mobile subscribers grew from 2.67 billion worldwide in 2006 to 3.18 billion in 2007, with penetration of more than 50 percent of the total population.

Broadband subscribers, meanwhile, grew from 279 million to 348 million. However, the penetration was still low, at 5.5 percent in 2007, according to IDATE.

Numbers of fixed lines globally totalled 1.13 billion in 2003, with an approximate 50-50 split from industrialised and developing countries.

The numbers were up to 1.26 billion in 2007, in which growth was seen in developing countries, but the numbers declined in industrialised nations, according to the report, World Digital Media Trends 2009, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.