The two billionth mobile phone subscriber worldwide signed up at the end of September, 2005, says ABI Research. The market data firm expects the three billionth mobile phone subscriber to sign up sometime before the end of 2008.

Other recent findings from ABI Research's “Mobile Operators Research Service” include:

• 2008 might also see the 3,500,000,000th mobile customer, if efforts to lower costs and reach further inland in India, China, and Africa succeed
• The billionth 3G subscriber will sign up in 2010

  • 3G WCDMA subscribers grew from 17.3 million to 42 million in 2005 (142 percent year-over-year)
  • ABI believes 3G has “come of age,” and that 2006 will be the “year of the 3G phone,” with the market poised “on the cusp of another boom period”

Additional details are available from ABI Research.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.