Ericsson: Mobile Penetration at 60% of Global Population

Global mobile penetration reached 85 percent in Q4 2011 and mobile subscriptions now total
around 6 billion, according to an "Interim Update: Traffic and Market Data Report" released by Ericsson ahead of Mobile World Congress. Because many people now own multiple mobile phones, Ericsson estimates that real number of people with mobile phones is closer to 4.1 billion, or roughly 60 percent of the world’s population. Significantly, mobile penetration has reached 73% in China and 71% in India, compared to 129% in Western Europe and 93% in North America.


Some other key data points:


Approximately 30 percent of all handsets sold in 2011 were smartphones, compared to around 20 percent
for the full year 2010.


Mobile data traffic was double that for voice in Q4 2011 on a global basis.


Data traffic grew by 18% between Q2 and Q3 2011.
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2012/tmd_report_feb_web.pdf