Mobile Facts

Did You Know...

• There are 5.9 billion mobile subscribers worldwide (that's 87 percent of the global population). 

• At the end of 2011, mobile penetration in the developing world reached 79 percent.

• India and China constitute for 30 percent of the world’s mobile users.

• The highest percentage of mobile Web users who never or infrequently use the desktop Web are in Egypt at 70 percent, and India at 59 percent.

• Even in the US, 25 percent of Web users are mobile-only.

• Mobile subscriptions outnumber fixed lines 5:1 (higher in developing nations).

• Currently, there are 1.2 billion active mobile-broadband subscriptions worldwide.

• 45 percent of the world’s population is now covered by a 3G mobile network (required for fast mobile Internet access).

• Over 85 percent of new handsets shipped in 2011 globally included some form of browser.

• SMS is leading mobile messaging with 8 trillion text messages sent in 2011.

• Application to Person (ATP) SMS that includes: automated alerts from banks, financial services, advertising, marketing, business administration, ticketing and television voting is expected to overtake Person to Person (PTP) SMS by 2016.

• Feature phones sales (let alone ownership) still outnumber smartphones 4:1.