Worldwide cellular connections pass 2.5 billion

Wireless Intelligence releases its latest forecasts

For immediate release. 7 September 2006. Today the total number of cellular connections in the world will reach 2.5 billion, having passed through the 2 billion mark just 12 months ago, according to estimates from Wireless Intelligence - the venture between Ovum and the GSM Association.

"The cellular industry took 20 years to reach 1 billion connections, three years to reach 2 billion connections and is on target to reach its third billion in a period of just over two years," says Martin Garner, Director of Wireless Intelligence.

"Worldwide growth is currently running at over 40 million new connections per month - the highest volume of growth the market has ever seen."

Over the four quarters to the end of September 2006, world total net additions were 484 million. Of these, 41% were in Asia Pacific. Eastern Europe and Latin America together accounted for 30% of the growth. Africa took 10% of the growth and the relatively mature markets of Western Europe, North America and the Middle East took the remaining 20% in more or less equal measure.

"Most of the growth is coming from cellular markets with lower levels of market penetration than exists in Europe for example," says Garner. "These are often referred to as "emerging markets", although many of them now have very large, well developed and sophisticated cellular markets with market penetration moving quickly towards European levels."

The top ten countries for volume of new connections over the last year were China, India, Russia, USA, Pakistan, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Between them, they account for over half of the growth in the world cellular market over the last 12 months.

A quarter of the growth is coming from China and India. China's market is still expanding at more than 5 million new connections per month. India has moved rapidly up the top ten list, with the rate of new connections quadrupling over the last 18 months to reach a level very close to China's.

According to Wireless Intelligence forecasts the next half billion new connections will take a little longer to be added - 16 months - meaning that the market is on track to reach 3 billion connections around the end of 2007.

For a graph of the number of cellular connections worldwide from 2004 to 2007, click here.

-Ends-

Note: Total connections are higher than the real number of users due to multiple connections for some users and inactive prepaid connections (where people change from one operator to another, they stay on the first operator's database for a while).

About Wireless Intelligence

Wireless Intelligence is a venture between Ovum and the GSM Association. It is also endorsed by the CDMA Development Group (CDG). At the heart of its activities is a comprehensive database on the global mobile market. It currently contains 1,100,000 individual data points drawn from 670 operators in 221 countries, across all mobile technologies. Through a unique partnership the majority of the world's operators have access to the database for validation and contribution.

Whilst Wireless Intelligence is able to draw on the combined strengths of its parent organisations, it acts as a separate entity to ensure absolute confidentiality and independence.

About Ovum PLC

Ovum's primary activity is providing value-added advisory services and consulting to retained and project clients. The company acts as a well-respected and trusted source of industry data, knowledge and expertise on the commercial impact of technology, regulatory and market changes. Ovum engages in continuous research and industry analysis to determine market dynamics in its specialist sectors.

Ovum has developed long-standing relationships with many of its corporate clients, which include major international blue-chip companies such as Alcatel, AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telecom, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Telstra and Vodafone.

About the GSM Association

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing over 600 GSM mobile phone operators across the world. In addition, more than 150 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association's initiatives as key partners. The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Association's members serve more than 2 billion customers - 78% of the world's mobile phone users.

For further information:

EMEA
Conny Lutz
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7551 9081
Email: prteam@ovum.com

North America
Sara Kaufman
Tel: +1 617-722-4602
Email: prteam@ovum.com

Asia-Pacific
Tanisha Kuckreja
Tel: +61 3 9601 6723
Email: prteam@ovum.com