Tech-Curious African: Global Mobile Facts and Figures

According to ITU, by May 2014, there were nearly 7 Billion mobile subscribers Worldwide which is about 95.5 percent of the world population.

14 countries in the world had surpassed the 100 million mobile subscriptions mark (by Nov 2013) which accounted for 61 percent of the world’s total mobile subscriptions. They are - highest to lowest - China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nigeria, Germany, Bangladesh, Philippines and Mexico. China had over 1200 million subscribers and together with India’s 900 million the two make up about 29 percent of the World’s total mobile subscriptions. (Mobiforge)

The developed world has over 1.5 billion mobile subscribers with a mobile penetration of 120.8 percent which has reached near saturation point with little room for growth.

The developing world has over 5.4 billion mobile subscriptions with a mobile penetration of 90.2 percent which is 78 percent of global subscriptions but still with room for growth

Asia Pacific with 3.6 billion subscription accounts for more than half the world’s mobile subscriptions, thus 52.1 percent of the global number. (ITU)

Africa may still have the lowest mobile penetration worldwide at 69.3 percent but Portio Research predicts that by 2016 Africa and Middle East will overtake Europe as the second largest region for mobile subscribers. As an indication ITU’s figures show that while ‘all regions continue to show double-digit growth rates, Africa stands out with a growth rate of over 40% – twice as high as the global average. By end 2014, mobile-broadband penetration in Africa will have reached almost 20%, up from less than 2% four years earlier.’

USA now has 143 million Smartphones (not mobile phones) and 71 million tablets which has enabled mobile internet access and doubled the amount of time spent online by American’s since 2010. The leading platform for U.S Smartphone use are Android (53%) and iPhone (40%) with Blackberry down to 3%. According to iMedia Connection, Mobile ads perform 4-5 times better than online ads in the US and that would explain why marketers in the US spend $8.5 billion in 2013 on mobile advertising double what they spend in 2012 ($4.4 billion) and why this figure is projected to quadruple to $31.1 billion by 2017. (Heidi Cohen)

Germany is currently Europe’s largest mobile market and the eleventh largest telecoms market in the world.

Brazil is the fifth largest telecoms Market in the world and one of the top countries for the use of social networks and popularity of Whatsapp messaging feature.

Sweden is a world-leading market in terms of mobile usage, mobile penetration and mobile smartphone penetration. Sweden saw the introduction of the world’s first 4G (fourth-generation) networks in 2009 and today the majority of Swedes are covered by a superfast 4G data network. At Cannes (the World’s major marketing/advertising awards), last year, Swedish companies picked up nine Mobile Lions, second only to the United States (which has a population 33 times larger than Sweden).

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation – is the largest mobile market in Africa and the tenth largest in the world. In 2013, Nigeria surpassed 100 million active mobile subscriptions, which equates to around 65.8 percent of the population joining the 100 million club.

Kenya is the world leader in mobile money being home to the world famous M-PESA by the country’s largest mobile operator Safaricom with over 19 million Kenyans using their cell phones as a mobile wallets or bank accounts.

Japan’s mobile market is said to be the world’s most sophisticated in terms of mobile Web, marketing and services and the most lucrative mobile app market in the world. According to statistics released by TCA in September 2013, Japan had over 134.8 million mobile subscribers, of whom 107.5 (79.7%) were mobile internet subscribers. Also unlike other markets, Japan’s standard messaging technology is mobile email, not SMS and MMS.

Sources

Tech-Curious African