Posted: January 21, 2008

In belated appreciation of the dawning of another new year, we have compiled several indicators which point to the awe-inspiring growth of mobile adoption and the role of SMS as the most popular application for mobile subscribers.

PHONES FOR EVERYONE…ALMOST.

Figures released by industry analyst Informa Telecoms & Media reveal that worldwide mobile penetration hit 50 per cent - or around 3.3 billion subscriptions - on November 26, 2007, just over 26 years since the first cellular network was launched. This is all the more impressive when it is revealed that global penetration was 10% , with only 500 million subscriptions, in the year 2000 and took another 5 years to reach 30%, but only two more after that to reach 50%!

As of the end of September there were operational networks in 224 countries around the globe, a figure that has increased from 192 in 1997 and 35 in 1987. Informa estimates that mobile networks covered 90 per cent of the global population by mid-2007.

A large number of more mature markets worldwide already have in excess of 100 per cent mobile penetration, as users increasingly sign up for more than one subscription. As of the end of September, 59 countries had mobile penetration of over 100 per cent.

WHAT’S A LANDLINE?

More than one in eight U.S. households have cell phones but lack traditional landline telephones, according to a federal study that tracks the country’s growing dependence on wireless phones. The report showed that for the first half of 2007, 14 percent of households had cell phone service but no landline telephones.

Nearly one in five Hispanic adults (18 percent) have cell phones but no landline phones, the survey showed.

In addition for the first half of 2007,

11 percent of white adults and 14 percent of black adults had only cell phone service.

Roughly three in 10 people age 18 to 29 had only wireless telephones — more than double the portion of those aged 30 and older who rely only on cell phones.

14 percent of males and 12 percent of females only had cell phone service.

The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC, involved in-person interviews with people in 15,996 households conducted from January through June of this year.

Researchers found that more than 55% of all adults living with unrelated roommates relied solely on cellphones, and noted that this is the “highest prevalence rate among the population subgroups examined.”

With Americans cutting the cord to their land lines, 2007 is likely to be the first calendar year in which U.S. households spend more on cell phone services, industry and government officials say.
While there are roughly 170 million land lines in use nationwide, industry officials estimate there are close to 250 million cell phones. (These figures include residential and corporate use.)

SMS = SO MANY SUBSCRIBERS!

As the popularity of SMS continues to grow, Gartner forecasts 2.3 trillion messages will be sent across major markets worldwide in 2008, a 19.6 percent increase from the 2007 total of 1.9 trillion messages. Mobile messaging revenue across major markets will grow 15.7 percent in 2008 to $60.2 billion, up from $52 billion in 2007.

Gartner estimated that there were 189 billion mobile messages sent in 2007 in North America, and this is forecast to reach 301 billion in 2008.

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