India, China, Africa Lead Cellular Subscription Growth, Reports In-Stat
(Business News, 25 Jul 2008 )
By Vinod Kataria
Fueled by rapid growth in India, China, and Africa, worldwide cellular subscriptions continued to expand rapidly in 2007, reports In-Stat. Due to some areas approaching saturation and a relatively slow world economy, subscription growth in 2008 is expected to be much less, the high-tech market research firm says.
Allen Nogee, analyst, In-Stat, said, “India and China subscription numbers are growing at a fast clip, as more of the population gets their first cell phone, and often their first phone of any kind. Most of these phones are low-end GSM phones, but even some of these phones are starting to incorporate more high-end features.”
Recent research by In-Stat found are including the number of worldwide cellular subscriptions in 2007 grew by 667.6 million over 2006; By 2012, yearly growth in subscribers is expected to decrease to only 163 million per year, roughly twice the population increase projected in that year; and 2008 subscription growth is forecast to be only 382.5 million more than 2007’s growth.
