The global mobile phone industry has been growing at a rapid pace due to rising demand for advanced cell phone. In 2008, the mobile penetration rate is expected to cross 50% mark.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN organization, revealed that the penetration of mobile phones worldwide would rise to 50% in early 2008 against 12% in 2000, as per reported by Economictimes.
However, till the end of 2007, the mobile penetration reached 48% while at the end of 2006, it was at 41%. Moreover, ITU also highlighted that the figure of mobile subscribers worldwide will cross 3.3 Billion in 2008. This sustainable growth in the global mobile industry is attributed to fast acceptance of cell phones in developing countries including India, Brazil, Russia and China.
The mobile technology has become blood veins for economic development in developing countries because it has emerged as the cheapest and fastest way of communication for small businesses and enterprises. In addition, it has become an inevitable component for economic progress of population as whole.
Another reason for significant growth in the mobile phone industry is rapid economic growth in developing countries like India, China, Pakistan and Russia due to which the disposable income of people have increased and they are purchasing cell phones. Besides, growing competition among mobile companies of these countries have substantially reduced tariff rates and prices of handsets, thus making mobile phones affordable to people and contributed to the boom in the industry worldwide.
Not only this, introduction of new and more advance technologies like Mobile TV, 3G, 4G, Mobile WiMAX, and other services have caught the attention of consumers both in developing and developed countries. Mobile companies have targeted the young generation because cell phones are not mere a device for communication but an extremely advanced device with effective business applications. Moreover, integration of relatively new technologies like GPS, mobile e-mail service, and video camera too has created demand for cell phones around the world.
