ITU: Statshot – December 2012
The world of ICT
Key messages:
Note: Each slide will need to have a mention of date – in almost every case this will be “As of
the beginning of 2012”

There are over 100 countries with mobile-cellular penetration exceeding 100% –
meaning there are more mobile cellular subscriptions than inhabitants.

In seven economies worldwide, mobile cellular penetration is over 200%

China is the first country to achieve one billion mobile cellular subscriptions. India will
soon become the second.

There are nearly six billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide. More than 50% of
them are in Asia-Pacific.

In sub-Saharan Africa mobile-cellular penetration stands at over 50%, compared to
around 1% for fixed-telephone penetration.

Over 90% of the world’s population is now covered by 2G mobile networks.

The United States achieved 100% mobile-cellular penetration in 2010 – rapidly catching
up after relatively slow growth compared to other developed nations.

At current rates of growth by 2014, there will be more mobile phone subscriptions than
people on the planet.

There are more than 250 million mobile cellular subscriptions in Russia – resulting in a
mobile cellular penetration rate of almost 180%.

Pre-paid continues to be the preferred choice of mobile subscriptions– accounting for
over 70% of mobile subscriptions globally, and over 87% in the developing world.

Mobile cellular penetration in Brazil is over 120% – with over 240 million active mobile
subscriptions.

More than 160 countries have launched 3G services. And almost half the world’s
population is covered by a 3G mobile network.

2.3 billion people are online – up by 100% in five years.

Two thirds of the world’s population – and three quarters of people in developing
countries – are still not using the Internet.

There are 1.1 billion active mobile broadband subscriptions – almost twice as many as
fixed broadband subscriptions.

Mobile broadband continues to surge – showing average annual growth of 41% over the
past four years.

Mobile broadband subscriptions grew in the developing world by 76% year-on-year.

China is now the world’s largest smartphone market.

China accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s Internet users.

Developing countries’ share of world Internet users grew from 44% to 62% in the past
five years.

Over two thirds of people under 25 in developing countries – almost 2 billion people –
are not yet online. So there is huge potential if we can connect schools.

Some 600 million households – around one third of the total – now have Internet at
home.

In developing countries only 20% of households have Internet access; compared to 75%
with a TV.

127 of 144 developing countries now have a national broadband plan.

The relative price of ICT services dropped by 30% between 2008 and 2011.

ICT service revenues reached US$ 1.5 trillion in 2010. This represents around 2.4% of
global GDP.

Global exports of ICT goods accounted for 12% of global merchandise trade.

Investment (measured by capital expenditure) in telecommunications in 2010 amounted
to more than US$ 241 billion– this is an estimated 2% of Global Fixed Capital Formation.

South Africa is the 15th largest telecommunication market in the world in terms of
revenues from telecommunication services, with one of the highest ratios of revenues to
GDP in the world.
Data and analysis in this ITU Statshot are drawn from ‘Measuring the Information Society 2012’ and the ITU World
Telecommunication/ICT Indicators database.
Further ICT statistics are available online at ITU’s ICT Eye [hyperlink to http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/icteye/Default.aspx]. ITU
also publishes a full range of current statistics and analysis [hyperlink to http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications].