Mobile-cellular subscriptions are projected to hit 7 billion by end 2014, with 3.6 billion of these coming from Asia-Pacific region with the developing world claiming over 78 per cent of the world’s total.
According to the report, the increase is mostly due to growth in the developing world where mobile-cellular subscriptions will account for 78 per cent of the world’s total. At the moment, mobile-cellular growth rates are at their lowest-ever points (2.6% globally) saturation levels.
“Africa and Asia and the Pacific, where penetration will reach 69 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively by end 2014, are the regions with the strongest mobile-cellular growth (and the lowest penetration rates),” says the report. On the contrary, the report claims penetration rates in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Arab States, the Americas and Europe, now at above 100 per cent will grow at less than two per cent in 2014.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré said, “The newly released ICT figures confirm once again that information and communication technologies continue to be the key drivers of the information society.”
3 billion Internet users by year end
The new figures also indicate that by end 2014, there will be almost 3 billion Internet users and two-thirds of them wil come from the developing world. Mobile mobile-broadband subscriptions will reach 2.3 billion globally. Fifty-five per cent of these subscriptions are expected to be in the developing world.
“If we want to understand the information society, we have to measure it,” Brahima Sanou, the Diretor of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, said. “Without measurement we cannot track progress or identify gaps which require our attention.”
Fixed-telephone penetration will have about 100 million fewer fixed-telephone subscriptions than in 2009 while by year end fixed-broadband penetration will have reached almost 10 per cent globally.Forty-four per cent of all fixed-broadband subscriptions are in Asia and the Pacific, and 25 per cent are in Europe. In contrast, Africa accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of the world’s fixed-broadband subscriptions, and despite double-digit growth over the last four years, penetration in Africa remains very low.
Africa, the Arab States, and CIS are the only regions with double-digit fixed-broadband penetration growth rates. The Americas region stands out with the lowest growth in fixed broadband penetration, estimated at 2.5 per cent and reaching a penetration rate of around 17 per cent by end 2014. Europe’s fixed-broadband penetration is much higher compared with other regions and almost three times as high as the global average.
Globally, mobile-broadband penetration will reach 32 per cent by end 2014; in developed countries, mobile-broadband penetration will reach 84 per cent, a level four times as high as in developing countries (21%). The number of mobile-broadband subscriptions will reach 2.3 billion globally and 55 per cent of all mobile-broadband subscriptions are expected to be in the developing world.
Mobile-broadband penetration levels are highest in Europe (64%) and the Americas (59%), followed by CIS (49%), the Arab States (25%), Asia-Pacific (23%) and Africa (19%).
By end 2014, 44 per cent of the world’s households will have Internet access with nearly one-third (31%) of households in developing countries will be connected to the Internet, compared with 78 per cent in developed countries, showing that household Internet access is approaching saturation levels in developed countries.
More than one out of two households in the CIS will be connected to the Internet. In Africa, only about one out of ten households will be connected to the Internet. However, household Internet access in Africa continues to grow at double-digit rates.
By end 2014, the number of Internet users globally will have reached almost 3 billion. Two-thirds of the world’s Internet users are from the developing world. This corresponds to an Internet-user penetration of 40 per cent globally, 78 per cent in developed countries and 32 per cent in developing countries. More than 90 per cent of the people who are not yet using the Internet are from the developing world.
20 % of Africa online
