5 Billion Worldwide Mobile Subscriptions in 2010

A recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report suggests that the continuing upsurge in the number of people using mobile phones will continue through 2010. In fact, the number of mobile subscriptions will surpass the 5 billion mark sometime this year if the current rate of growth continues!

This means that by the end of 2010, there will be 400 million more mobile subscriptions than in 2009. Last year, the ITU had reported the number of subscriptions to top 4.6 billion. Most of this growth is fueled by the developing and emerging markets - the biggest chunk probably from China and India. In developed countries, the rate of penetration of mobile phones is already well over 100 percent. The developing countries, on the other hand, have, on an average, just 57 percent of its people hooked to mobile phones.

Along with mobile phones, Internet usage is also on the rise with just over 1.7 billion people (26 percent of the world's population) having access to the Web. Landlines, however, continue to die a slow, steady death. The ITU adds that the most advanced countries in telecoms and the Internet terms in 2008 were Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and the UK (in Europe), and South Korea and Japan in Asia.