Planet Earth saw its 4 billionth wireless subscription go live in 2008. According to that latest statistics from GSM trade group 3G Americas, wireless world hit the 4 billion milestone in December 2008.
The number represents 60% of the global population, indicating that more emerging markets are starting to enjoy wireless connectivity.
“The Latin America and Caribbean region continues to show steady consumer growth with 16% year-on-year growth as subscription numbers are expected to reach in excess of 440 million, equating to 76% penetration,” noted Marisol Gomez, Americas regional analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “The market in the region to have shown the greatest number of net additions in the year was unsurprisingly Brazil [19 million], but in terms of annual growth, we note that Peru has been a particularly fast growing market with 4.6 million net additions, representing annual subscription growth of 33%.”
The growth in 3G subscribership is likewise impressive. It is estimated that there are about 415 million 3G subscriptions to date, with 77% of the 3G market, or 320 million connections, using UMTS/HSPA networks – the remaining 95 million use CDMA EV-DO networks.
And, now that overall wireless growth is starting to reach a tipping point, the developed world will soon enjoy the next-generation of mobile networks. “HSPA and HSPA+ will compete with any and all mobile wireless technologies available today and in the near future,” concluded Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas. “In fact, recent commercial launches of HSPA+, such as that of Telstra in Australia, are reporting peak theoretical downlink speeds of 21.6 Mbps. 3G is more than capable of delivering the bandwidth customers need today, and the emerging LTE technology provides us with a clear evolution path for the future.”
With wireless penetration hitting new highs, there’s little doubt that many wireless subscribers have multiple active lines. How many of you out there are rocking more than one mobile subscription?