According to a report this week from the United Nations, the number of mobile phone subscriptions throughout the world has quadrupled in the last seven years, from 1 billion in 2002 to 4.1 billion by December 2008.
That means that about 60% of the world's population has signed up for a phone and had to endure the laborious task of listening to a telcom worker up-sell unnecessary features and extra plans. Hey it's One World, right? We all get to feel the pain.
In the report, the U.N. notes that the majority of this growth is directly attributed to people in developing countries, who use phones as a more of a survival/functional tool. One of the big mobile applications during this time has been the use of money transfers services through phones, for people who don't have bank accounts. For example, Nigerian and Kenyan companies recently announced they'd be expanding these services over the next year.
There are a few other interesting techy trends of note in the report. Internet use has more than doubled throughout the world, from 11% in 2002 to 23%, but that in developing countries, only one person out of twenty has access to the internet on average.
The report also found that despite the fact that 'fixed' or broadband internet connections offer the fastest web access, their generally more expensive rate has priced out, for now, about 80% of people who have internet access in developed countries. In developing countries, only 5% of people have broadband access to the net.
Another interesting note to take from the report is that the huge growth in mobile phone use shows that higher-speed web access for mobiles is growing at a faster rate than regular high-speed access for anything else, like businesses or homes. What this means is that the device most people will likely use and rely on in the future will be the cell phone, above all else.
Lead Photo: MarkKelly/flickr
