Number of Cell Phones Worldwide Hits 4.6B

(AP)  The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase to five billion this year, the U.N. telecommunications agency said Monday.

Mobile phone providers in rich countries offer advanced services and handsets, while people in developing countries increasingly use the mobile phone for health services and banking, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

"Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services," said the agency's Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure.

"The simplest, low-end mobile phone can do so much to improve health care in the developing world," Toure said in a statement, citing examples of patients receiving reminder messages on their mobile phone ahead of a medical appointment or text messages instructing them how to take complex medication.

The number of mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide is expected to exceed one billion this year, the agency said. There were around 600 million such subscriptions at the end of 2009, it added.

Web access by people on the move, including through laptops and smart mobile devices, will probably surpass web access from desktop computers within the next five years, the agency said.

[ibzjem]

This is approaching one for every man woman and child on the planet. Either all the 3rd world countries have suddenly hit a wind-fall, or a whole lot of people own multiple phones each.

[presjfk]

4.6 bill cell phones and none of them made in the USA. Ridiculous.

[pragmatist1]

As long as there are those who fall for these types of techno-gimmicks, they'll have to pay for their toys. If they're not willing to pay to play, then they should get rid of their toys.

[thesevenveils]

A text message on a cell phone takes less than a seconds worth of talking bandwith. Yet, cell phone networks charge more for this than the cost of transmitting a command signal to the mars rover,

It is time that this mispractice is stopped. It is time that the law recognizes a text message to be the same as a voice call.

[armyoftwelve]

WOW the pool of potential brain-cancer vistims has just increased to 4.6 billion!