Economist on "Mobile Marvels" in Emerging Markets

Andrew Savikas
September 29, 2009 | Permalink | Listen

Though here when we talk about mobile it's usually in the context of mobile reading and media, that's just a small piece of what's happening as we move to the age of the mobile web, especially in emerging markets.

This week's Economist has a special report on Mobile and Telcoms in Emerging Markets that's worth a read. For example, in about two years mobile is forecast to eclipse fixed broadband as the way most people use the Internet:

Worth particular note are the Beyond Voice and Internet for the Masses stories (from which the graph above is taken):

HOW long will it be before everyone on Earth has a mobile phone? "It looks highly likely that global mobile cellular teledensity will surpass 100% within the next decade, and probably earlier," says Hamadoun Touré, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, a body set up in 1865 to regulate international telecoms. Mobile teledensity (the number of phones per 100 people) went above 100% in western Europe in 2007, and many developing countries have since followed suit. South Africa passed the 100% mark in January, and Ghana reached 98% in the same month. Kenya and Tanzania are expected to get to 100% by 2013.