NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 13, 2005

Identifying India and China as engines of mobile phone growth, Finnish cellular handset maker Nokia on Monday said global mobile phone users would swell to three billion by the turn of this decade.

“By 2010, Nokia estimates the global mobile subscriber base, which hit 1.7 billion (170 crore) at the end of 2004, to reach three billion (300 crore),” said Urpo Karjalainen, senior vice president, Nokia, whose share in the global cellular market is around 28 per cent.

Of these new subscriptions, nearly half are expected to come from Asia Pacific countries including China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Mobile penetration in APAC is expected to be the major contributor to the global growth and would surpass the magical two billion mark by this year, he said at the company’s annual event ’Nokia Connections 2005’.

Nearly 80 per cent of the next billion subscribers were expected to come from new growth markets and lower-spending segments.
Story found here.