Ericsson estimates mobile lines have hit 5 billion, gives shout out to China and India for the help
By Chris Ziegler 
posted July 15th 2010 3:32PM
posted July 15th 2010 3:32PM
Ericsson -- one of the world's top-tier infrastructure suppliers for mobile networks -- has crunched some numbers recently, figuring the five billionth cellphone line came into existence last Wednesday, July 8, largely from major surges in uptake in emerging markets like China and India. Mobile broadband access (which we take to mean access to 3G speeds and beyond) still trails significantly at just 360 million in 2009, though they're predicting a cool 3.4 billion users by 2015. To put things in perspective, Ericsson points out that we were at 720 million mobile lines in 2000 (and about 2.7 billion in 2007), so that's some pretty spectacular growth over the decade -- particularly considering that we're coming up on the Earth's population now. Of course, we don't know what happens when the world finally has more mobile subscriptions than it has humans -- but need we remind you that 2012 is drawing near? Follow the break for the full press release. Mobile subscriptions hit 5 billion mark
· 2 million additions per day
· More than 500 million 3G subscriptions
· 50 billion connected devices by 2020
This week marked yet another milestone in the internet becoming mobile when the 5 billionth mobile subscription added to the count, largely thanks to emerging markets like India and China.
According to Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) estimates based on industry information, the 5 billionth subscription was added Thursday, July 8.
In the year 2000, about 720 million people had mobile subscriptions, less than the amount of users China alone has today.
Mobile broadband subscriptions are growing at similar pace and are expected to amount to more than 3.4 billion by 2015 (from 360 million in 2009). Studies show that soon 80 percent of all people accessing the internet will be doing so using their mobile device.
For some it's a question of convenience, for others a necessity. Mobile subscriptions allow people who don't have access to a bank or a bank account to transfer money; fishermen and farmers can get quick updates on sudden changes in the weather forecast, villagers to get local medical care, and children to access online education. It facilitates daily operations of small businesses and drives economic growth.
In more mature markets, connected devices rather than people, are driving the increase in network traffic. According to Ericsson's vision we will reach 50 billion connections within this decade.
The communication landscape is changing rapidly and in December of last year, another milestone was reached when the amount of data traffic carried over mobile networks exceeded the amount of traffic generated from voice calls.
Machine-to-machine communications, or M2M, will be a key component in the future growth of the mobile industry. For energy companies it could be smart meters that read themselves, increase business efficiency and cut operational expenses. In transportation - tracking solutions improve route optimization and safety for vehicles on the road. Digital signs that can be updated remotely, cameras that can send pictures halfway around the world and even a soda machine that requests restocking when needed are other examples that machine-to-machine technology make possible.
That is actually really amazing. Imagine, just thirty years ago, who would have thought we would have had such an amazing level of connectivity? And look at how much it has already changed humanity (for the better), especially in traditionally closed communities like Iran and China.
Now all we need is a universal translator and we'll take humanity to a whole new level.
@paul34 Level 2?
@paul34
http://lifehacker.com/5466548/google-working-on-speech+to+speech-phone-translation
@paul34
Level 42?
You had to bring up 2012. Silly Engadget :P
so 6 out of 7 humans have a phone Thats total bullshit
@DefPoet
That's not what they're saying. I have 2 mobile lines, I know some people with 3+
@DefPoet
Closer to 5 out of 7. Roughly 6.8 Billion people in the world, although they really don't know about India or China.
@d0mth0ma5 Phones per human (5 per 7) as well. @Strawe makes a very valid point.
@strawe
three personal phones o.0! holy crap how do they keep up with that
@DefPoet
Remember all those dual SIM phones in China? That's two lines right there (if ppl actually put 2 SIMs in, of course).
@hmmwv
A lot of people put 2 SIMs in those, I know a guy that runs a little electronics/phone store and he imports and sells a lot of these Chinese dual-SIM phones.
The target market for them are foreign students and immigrants that use 1 SIM card for their local number and 1 SIM card for their number back home to talk with their families.
@DefPoet in india, everybody that have a mobile have more than one sim card. my friends all have 2-3-4 sim cards and it is considered very normal.
This can not be right there are 2 billion in the world that dont even have running water or electricity. but they have phones right? break it down engadget!
@leemahi
Are you really that stupid?
Have you been using the same phone for the past 10 years?
@BrianH I may be wrong, but I think they are talking about active mobile phone lines, not mobile phones sold/made.
@leemahi
This actually doesn't talk about people, it says subscriptions, a lot of people have 2 subscriptions. I also guess some of this subscriptions are active but not really used, ie PAYG numbers that aren't used anymore but have not yet been canceled and recycled
@BrianH
subscriptions, not phones, you can have 100 old phones from the past 10 years that you are not using, but if you have 1 phone number you count as 1 subscription.
@leemahi : Yes people in India might not have clean drinking water.. But they have cellphones..
@leemahi
yup, a lot of people in india dont have clean water or food but they do indeed have cellphones.
its dirt cheap there, when it went there for my summer visit i got a pay as you go plan that was 30 paisa per minute, or 6/10ths of a US penny.
@leemahi
yup almost every1 in India has a cell phone. They might not have a house to live, or clean water nor electricity (if they have a house), but they do have a cell phone. Incoming calls are free in India and outgoing costs like 0.0064515 USD/minute. The telecomm revolution was really a boon for the common people in India.
Sounds good
"Of course, we don't know what happens when the world finally has more mobile subscriptions than it has humans"
I have two phones. One work phone (used only for data, but still has its own phone number) and one personal phone (used only for voice/text). So I guess after each person in the world has a phone, we'll start the process where everyone has two.
i thought it was sony-ericsson. whats the difference?
@metformin ericsson manufactures telecom infrastructure equiment like exchanges, switches, base stations and all. Sony ericsson is a joint venture between sony and ericsson that manufactures mobile handsets
@asheryaqub
oh cool. thanks!
Overdrive and Mifis have their own phone number too.
just though i'd share
"figuring the five billionth cellphone line came into existence last Wednesday, July 8"
I think the wording might need to be changed; the way it is now makes it sound like 5 billion cellphone lines were activated last Wednesday.
@mrbofus
Actually, the wording doesn't.
@nate345
You're right. Thanks for pointing that out.
Ericsson just had too many erections.
I still have an Ericsson T18d as part of my cell phone hall of fame.
Ericsson has my respect, if i were deploy an UMTS/HSPA(+), i would choose them as my vendor. I just can't forget the "HELL YEA...7.2, 21mbps HSPA+! LETS DO IT!!" attitude with Telstra, and other willing vendors. They seem to have motivation to be the best.
Small note: July 8th was a Thursday, and the 7th was Wednesday (in case someone decides to use Engadget as a source for some paper and end up getting info wrong, etc..)
?
I've never seen a mobile line.
?