SFN report: Global mobile users reached 3.18 billion in '08; most from developing countries

Posted by Erina Lin on December 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM

Mobile subscribers in 2003 accounted for 1.39 billion, while 703 million came from developing countries. In 2007, the numbers boosted to more than 3.18 billion, while more than 2.22 billion was from developing countries, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

Worldwide, broadband subscribers totalled 101 million in 2003, with more than 80 percent coming from industrialised countries. In 2007, there were 348 million subscribers in total, 230 million of which were from industrialised countries, according to IDATE.

In terms of the number of subscribers/lines per 100 inhabitants, fixed lines were almost static from 18.8 in 2003 to 19.9 in 2007. In industrialised countries that number declined, but in developing countries the number rose.

Global mobile density was at 22.9 in 2003 and reached 50.2 in 2007. Its reach was higher in industrialised countries, 71.3 in 2003 and 97.7 in 2007, versus developing countries, at 13.8 in 2003 and 41.6 in 2007.

In terms of broadband, density was up from 1.7 in 2003 to 5.5 in 2007. It increased quickly in industrialised countries, from 8.9 to 23.5, while in developing countries, it grew from 0.3 to 2.2, according to the report, World Digital Media Trends 2009, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.