China helps drive global growth of mobile subscribers

Infonetics Research has released its new Fixed and Mobile Subscribers market forecast report. The communications industry market research firm predicts the number of worldwide mobile subscribers to reach 5.9 billion by 2013. It also expects the number of PON FTTH subscribers worldwide to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 32 per cent from 2008 to 2013.

Asia Pacific: world's largest mobile subscriber region

Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research noted the importance of communication services and said even the global recession did not prevent people from using them.

The global economic crisis did not stop people from communicating but it definitely accelerated the pace of wireline-to-mobile substitution. China had half a billion mobile subscribers in 2008, and Téral said that together with India, it makes Asia Pacific the world's largest mobile subscriber region, now and into the future.

"The EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] region is next, with strong growth driven by Africa. Mobile subscriptions will continue to grow strongly over at least the next five years, driven mainly by basic voice service needs in these regions, particularly in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)," added Téral.

Access lines losing popularity in China

Fixed and mobile subscribers' market highlights from this Infonetics Research's report indicate the apparent decline of the access line market. The figures show that there were about four times more mobile subscribers than access line subscribers worldwide in 2008 (3.9 billion versus one billion).

The number of mobile subscribers grew 17.4 per cent in 2008 over 2007. Access line subscribers declined 5.5 per cent in contrast. Access lines are no longer popular in North America and China. According to Infonetics Research, their disappearance is due to many reasons including the move to fixed-to-mobile substitutions and the switch from copper to fibre lines. The global recession also caused the change as many users keep only their mobile or smart phone to cut costs.