Mobile subscriptions reach 7 bn worldwide: ITU report

NEW DELHI: There are more than seven billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, up from 738 million in 2000, according to ITU's latest figures.

Globally, 3.2 billion people are using the Internet, of which two billion live in developing countries.

ITU indicated that over the past 15 years, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have grown in an unprecedented way, providing huge opportunities for social and economic development.

The new figures track ICT progress show gaps in connectivity since the year 2000, when world leaders established the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“These new figures not only show the rapid technological progress made to date, but also help us identify those being left behind in the fast-evolving digital economy, as well as the areas where ICT investment is needed most,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao at a press conference to launch the report today at the 2015 WSIS Forum in Geneva.

“ICTs will play an even more significant role in the post-2015 era and in achieving future Sustainable Development Goals as the world moves faster and faster towards a digital society,” said Brahima Sanou, the Director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau.

“Our mission is to connect everyone and to create a truly inclusive information society, for which we need comparable and high-quality data and statistics to measure progress.”he added.

Between 2000 and 2015, Internet penetration has increased almost seven-fold from 6.5 to 43 per cent of the global population.

Mobile broadband is the most dynamic market segment, with mobile-broadband penetration globally reaching 47 per cent in 2015, a value that increased 12-fold since 2007. In 2015, 69 per cent of the global population will be covered by 3G mobile broadband, up from 45 per cent in 2011.

There is also a rapid extension of 3G mobile broadband into rural areas, and ITU estimates that 29 per cent of the 3.4 billion people worldwide living in rural areas will be covered by 3G mobile broadband by the end of 2015. Among the four billion people living in urban areas, 89 per cent will have access to 3G mobile broadband.