Worldwide cellphone use hits 60 percent, developing nations largely to thank

Outfits like Nokia have been just rolling in profits from selling oodles of low margin handsets in developing nations across the globe, so it's no shock at all to hear that those very countries have propelled the worldwide usage tally well above the 50 percent mark. According to a wide-ranging United Nations report, around six in ten people across the globe now use mobile phones, and as expected, fixed line subscriptions have increased at a much slower pace. If you're wondering just how significant this figure really is, chew on this: in 2002, just under 15 percent of the global population used a cellie. Impressive, eh?

[Via TG Daily]

[MrDiSante Posted Mar 3rd 2009 2:59AM]

I do. My old Nokia 6015i gave better signal, battery life and sound quality than any other smart/media phone I've owned since. Seems to be true of just about all of them.

[thefreehunter Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:07AM]

Like the N97?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:11AM]

I do not know anyone (besides my sister) that has a ‘just to talk phone’; I live in a developed state in a developing country, what makes my place, well, between Sweden and Ethiopia, but to Sweden side … thanks o Lord.

[looselycoupled Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:47AM]

Just tell us what country already! :)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:28AM]

Sorry for that. I did not say because I saw no importance, since I was trying to emphasize that the headline was true, but I live in Brazil. Not too bad, not too good.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:25AM]

In many developing countries, the mobile phone will be people's only computing device. The most used application? SMS. In rural areas in India and Africa, the use of SMS is much more advanced than in North America. People use SMS to pay water bills, electric bills and do all sorts of things we do on the web. The concept of web doesn't really exist, nor does e-mail for these folks.

So it's great to see that our hand-me-down phones for them are enabling so many people to be able to join in the communication and technological revolution that otherwise they would not be able to afford.

cheers,
[e-mail]
http://www.skratchboard.com

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:14AM]

Ermm... Did you just say "our hand-me-down phones". You couldn't be farther from the truth.

I guess it would do you a lot of good to go to one of these countries and see the variety of cellphones and services they have to offer. Those markets are actually fueling innovation in the industry by least an equal amount as the western world.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:01AM]

don't wank your stupid site on here bud. everyone hates the shit y'all hawkers try to pull

[Surrealchemist Posted Mar 3rd 2009 3:29AM]

Even shanty towns in Jamaica without running hot water can have telephone access thanks to cell phones.

[SiXiam Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:08AM]

I'd rather have the hot water...lol

[milkywayer Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:03AM]

@SiXiam,
you cant call your grandma with the hot-water.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 10:52AM]

@AbbasJin

Your so right I can't call Gramma with hot water or even if I wanted on a cell phone. Sheee's dead!!!

[pika2000 Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:24AM]

In a lot of Asian and 3rd world countries, cellphones are sold unlocked, thus when the rich are bored with theirs and want to buy the latest and greatest, others can buy second hand phones from ANYbody for cheap with zero hassle/effort.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:34AM]

I

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:34AM]

Does anyone have a link to the original report from the UN's ITU? I don't see it on their websites.

As for the impact of mobile phones on economic development, human rights, etc, this post serves as an intro: http://www.globaldevelopmentcommons.net/node/996.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:35AM]

The comment system isn't working properly for some reason, argh.

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I

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 3rd 2009 4:45AM]

This is pure bullshit. More than 50% of the world lives on less than 2$ a day. no way they can afford cellphones.

[superhobo Posted Mar 3rd 2009 5:39AM]

Plans.

You can get a phone and a prepaid SIM card with unlimited validity for about $20 in India.

[and then the god said Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:00AM]

actually you can get a unlocked second phone at

[milkywayer Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:09AM]

@pr.Sajhe,
People over here in pakistan can buy a good condition used mobile phone for around 30$.
companies here offer crazily cheap packages, like
- Unlimited call to one favorite number throughout the month for just 7$/month (~500 PKR)
- 5000 SMS messages to any other mobile network in the country for 3$/month (~200 PKR)
- On average, most of the cellular companies provide cheap calling rates .. even offnet calls cost like $0.38 per minute (calls are billed for 30second intervals.
- A call from Pakistan to the US costs like $0.30 per minute, thats cheaper than what skype offers.

So NO, nearly everyone can afford a fone now. I'm sure cheap rates like these are the same in all developing nations.

[milkywayer Posted Mar 3rd 2009 7:29AM]

Correction for rates in my post above.
its $0.038 .. NOT $0.38
and
$0.03 NOT $0.30 for US calls.
sorry.

[sporkinum Posted Mar 3rd 2009 2:28PM]

I agree. I think what is being counted are the number of phones that were sold. The way people jump around and change phones, I'd bet a large proportion of USA users are responsible for several phones each. I only have a work cellphone, and have gone through 4 of them in the last year. 1 was change of provider(Sprint to US Cellular), another was change of provider(US Cellular to Verizon) and to smart phone, and finally back to a flip phone and US Cellular. The funny thing is that I was given a new phone each time, even though they all functioned.

[FILA Posted Mar 3rd 2009 6:16PM]

SAMMIE sucks balls, he must be a SAMWRONG fan, lol loser

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:54PM]

Yes, the figure really surprise us. Cell phone is more and more popular in our normal life. Somebody have 2 or 3 cell phones for different purpose. One for business, one for family and one for friends. Or, some one hope to protect their private matters, they will keep one phone number for a few friends or family members. The purpose for buying a cell phone has developed, not only for communication, so the worldwide usage percentage growing fast. It will has a big space for the figure growing, as cell phone has more additional entertainment function now. I believe it.

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