Global mobile subscriptions saw a 9% rise in 2012 to 6.3 billion year-on-year, boosted by the growth in expanding markets in India and China, according to a new report from Ericsson.
The latest Ericsson Mobility Report revealed that overall mobile subscriptions in China reached 1.26 billion, while in India they reached 713 million during the period.
During the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), global mobile penetration reached 89% while the actual number of subscribers reached 4.4 billion, as many users have several subscriptions.
China accounted for 22% of net additions or about 30 million subscriptions, followed by India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Mobile subscriptions rose about 9% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter.
According to the report, mobile broadband subscriptions during the quarter rose 50% to 1.5 billion, compared to the corresponding quarter in 2012.
In 2012, smartphones sales contributed 40% of the sales of all mobile phones, compared to around 30% for 2011.
Additionally, the report revealed that only around 15-20% of the globally installed base of mobile phone subscribers use smartphones.
Ericsson predicts that mobile data subscriptions are anticipated to grow strongly and drive data traffic growth, as well as growth in the average data volume per subscription.
