2010 Global - Key Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Statistics

Publication Overview

This annual report offers a wealth of information on the dynamic global telecoms sector. The report includes analyses, statistics, forecasts and trends. It provides a comprehensive perspective of the overall global industry and explores key issues and trends. 

Subjects covered include:

• Key Global Telecoms Statistics & Trends;
• Key Global Broadband Statistics including Fibre-to-the-Home;
• Key Global VoIP statistics;
• Key Global Mobile Statistics;
• Key Global Mobile Prepaid Statistics;
• Key Global Mobile Handset Statistics;
• Key Global Mobile Broadband Statistics.

Researchers: -Kylie Wansink, Paul Budde
Current publication date:- August 2010 (7th Edition)
Next publication date:- August 2011

Executive Summary

Global Telecoms in Statistics

The vibrant global telecommunications industry has faced many challenges over the last decade including regulatory and technology changes, a severe industry downturn, consolidation, market saturation, declining prices and major inroads by mobile services.

In recent times the focus has been primarily on surviving the economic downturn. While the various sectors that comprise the global telecommunications industry have been impacted upon in different ways; as a whole the industry has been quite resilient when compared to some other industries such as automotive, retail and travel.

In particular, growth in the mobile and fixed broadband sectors has continued and mobile subscriber penetration now sits at around 70% on a global level. The use of mobile data and mobile broadband services has also grown due to capped data packages, strong competition, smart phones and increased 3G penetration.

The next phase of mobile technology and services rests upon the development of wireless broadband and in particular the 4G technology, Long-term evolution (LTE). In the interim however, mobile users continue to utilise the 3G and 3.5G (HSPA) services on offer and there are around 650 million 3G/3.5G subscribers worldwide.

In 2010 almost 25% of the global population will use the Internet. Future growth of Internet users is expected from countries with large populations such as India, the Russian Federation and China; which are already showing signs of significant growth.

The financial crisis has led to global attention focusing on high-speed broadband based on Fibre-to-the- Home (FttH) and deployments are expected to grow steadily for at least the next five years. This is due to a growing recognition, particularly amongst government bodies, that broadband does not only offer high-speed Internet services; it is also important for national infrastructure and will underpin a range of positive social and economic developments.

There is no doubt that the next ten years will bring further exiting developments to the increasingly vital telecommunications industry. The foundations for change are already in motion and the continuing deployment of high-speed broadband and developments relating to 4G technology will provide the infrastructure to ignite the new innovations and revolutions of the future.

This report provides a valuable overview of the dynamic global telecoms sector. The report includes key global telecoms statistics such as the number of fixed lines; mobile subscribers; 3G-4G subscribers; text messages; handset sales; Internet users; broadband subscribers; VoIP and mobile broadband statistics. Also provided are broad statistics on worldwide telecoms capital expenditure (CAPEX), overall telecoms spending and revenues and key satellite services statistics. Information on the top 25 carriers’ worldwide and top 15 carriers in emerging markets is also provided along with outsourcing and MVNO market statistics.

Market highlights:

• The global telecoms industry numbers have become impressive and there are now billions of mobile and fixed connections worldwide.
• In terms of sales, AT&T, Verizon and NTT have been the global top 3 publicly listed carriers since at least 2007.
• The resilient mobile industry is still growing despite the challenges and overall global mobile revenues are predicted to reach over $1 trillion around 2012.
• While 3G technology has made inroads; the 2G GSM technology retains the largest market share with well over 4 billion subscribers worldwide.

 Forecast worldwide telecom statistics at a glance – 2010

(Source: BuddeComm forecasts, 2010)

• Handset sales in Q1 2010 were higher than expected, due to a strong growth in global smart phone sales and also the continuing uptake of unbranded low cost mobile devices in emerging markets.
• China is the world’s largest mobile communications market. The number of mobile subscribers in China surpassed the number of fixed-line subscribers in 2003.
• The high costs of data services, inadequate network speeds and inferior mobile interfaces initially held the mobile broadband/data market back. But as some of these issues are slowly resolved; the mobile broadband market is finally gaining momentum.
• By the end of 2010 there will be well over 500 million broadband subscribers worldwide (including all fixed access technologies). While Japan continues to lead the world in terms of the number of FTTx subscribers; South Korea has the highest penetration in the world and is the first country in the world to reach over 50% penetration of households using FTTx.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Table of Contents

• 1. Global Telecoms Market 2010
  • 1.1 Key global telecoms statistics & trends at a glance
    • 1.1.1 Global telecoms statistics at a glance
    • 1.1.2 Ranking of top carriers
    • 1.1.3 Global telecommunications expenditure and revenue
    • 1.1.4 Satellite services
    • 1.1.5 Global telecoms outsourcing
    • 1.1.6 MVNOs
    • 1.1.7 Conclusions
• 2. Key Broadband Statistics
  • 2.1 Broadband statistical overview
    • 2.1.1 The need for high-speed networks
    • 2.1.2 Trans-sector approach to broadband infrastructure
    • 2.1.3 Key global broadband statistics
    • 2.1.4 FttH going forward
    • 2.1.5 Fibre-based access
    • 2.1.6 Leading markets
    • 2.1.7 FTTx market statistics
    • 2.1.8 Fibre-to-the-X: the economics of last-mile fibre
    • 2.1.9 Regulating fibre: a global issue
    • 2.1.10 FttH drivers
    • 2.1.11 FttH business models
    • 2.1.12 Conclusion: Cable TV networks – like the fast steam trains?
  • 2.2 VoIP market overview
    • 2.2.1 Introduction
    • 2.2.2 VoIP market overview and statistics
    • 2.2.3 Selected case studies
• 3. Key Mobile Statistics
  • 3.1 Global mobile subscriber and revenue statistics
    • 3.1.1 Mobile market 2010
    • 3.1.2 Global mobile subscriber statistics
    • 3.1.3 Mobile usage and call charges overview
    • 3.1.4 Overview of global ARPU developments
    • 3.1.5 Overview of historical global ARPU developments
    • 3.1.6 Mobile revenue growth and CAPEX forecast
  • 3.2 Mobile handset market and statistics
    • 3.2.1 Historical handset market growth
    • 3.2.2 Mobile handset statistics and forecasts
    • 3.2.3 Global handset suppliers
    • 3.2.4 Smartphones
    • 3.2.5 Other trends and developments
    • 3.2.6 Safety and security issues
  • 3.3 Prepaid mobile market and statistics
    • 3.3.1 Prepaid mobile services
    • 3.3.2 Key prepaid trends and developments
    • 3.3.3 Worldwide prepaid subscribers
• 4. Key Mobile Broadband Statistics
  • 4.1 Global mobile broadband key trends
    • 4.1.1 Introduction
    • 4.1.2 Wireless broadband – 4G developments
    • 4.1.3 Mobile broadband/data growth
    • 4.1.4 Key mobile media industry segments: statistics and forecasts
    • 4.1.5 Mobile advertising
• 5. Glossary of Abbreviations

• Table 1 – Worldwide telecom statistics at a glance – 2010
• Table 2 – Worldwide Internet users and annual change – 2000 - 2010
• Table 3 – Worldwide Internet penetration by region – 2009
• Table 4 – Top ten ranking by country for Internet users – Q3 2009
• Table 5 – Top 25 publicly listed carriers worldwide by sales – 2009
• Table 6 – Top 15 publicly listed carriers worldwide by sales (historical) – 2008
• Table 7 – Top 15 publicly listed carriers in emerging markets – 2009
• Table 8 – Top 15 publicly listed carriers in emerging markets (historical) – 2008
• Table 9 – Global telecoms capital expenditure – 2008 - 2010
• Table 10 – Global telecoms revenue – 2002; 2006; 2008 - 2010
• Table 11 – Global telecoms expenditure as a percentage of GDP – 1990; 2006; 2009
• Table 12 – Worldwide satellite industry revenue – 2003; 2006; 2008 - 2009
• Table 13 – Worldwide satellite services revenue – 2003; 2006; 2008
• Table 14 – Worldwide number of outsourcing contracts signed across all sectors – 2004 - 2009
• Table 15 – Worldwide total contract value of outsourced services across all sectors – 2007 - 2008
• Table 16 – Leading regions in terms of outsourcing contract market share all sectors – 2006; 2008
• Table 17 – Worldwide MVNO subscribers – 2005; 2009; 2010; 2013
• Table 18 – Worldwide MVNO services revenue – 2001 - 2006; 2009; 2012
• Table 19 – Fixed broadband subscribers compared to total Internet subscribers worldwide – 2006; 2008; 2010
• Table 20 – Worldwide broadband subscribers and annual change – 2005 - 2010
• Table 21 – Top 10 countries worldwide by fixed broadband subscribers – 2008 - 2009
• Table 22 – Regional share of broadband subscribers – Q1 2009
• Table 23 – Broadband access among Internet households – selected countries – 2004 - 2010
• Table 24 – Top 13 OECD countries’ broadband penetration and ranking – 2001; 2006; 2008
• Table 25 – Top 10 OECD countries – broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2008
• Table 26 – Worldwide DSL subscribers – 2000 - 2010
• Table 27 – Worldwide broadband market share by access technology – 2009
• Table 28 – OECD broadband market share by access technology – 2007 - 2008
• Table 29 – OECD countries with cheapest broadband price per Mb/s – 2007 - 2008
• Table 30 – Worldwide average monthly broadband price by technology – 2008
• Table 31 – OECD average advertised broadband speeds by technology – 2008
• Table 32 – Leading countries market share of fixed broadband services revenue – 2009
• Table 33 – Total fixed broadband services revenue worldwide – 2006; 2009; 2014
• Table 34 – Fibre penetration and subscribers in select European countries – 2008 - 2009
• Table 35 – Proportion of fibre subscribers per home passed in select European countries – Jan 2009
• Table 36 – FTTx subscribers and homes passed in Europe – 2007 - 2008
• Table 37 – FTTx deployments by model in Europe – 2006; 2008
• Table 38 – Worldwide – Number of FTTx subscribers – comparison of analysts’ estimates
• Table 39 – USA; Europe; Asia-Pacific – number of FTTx subscribers – 2007 - 2009
• Table 40 – Worldwide – number of countries with an FttH market penetration of more than 1%
• Table 41 – Worldwide - Top 10 markets with FTTx penetration > 1% – 2007; 2009
• Table 42 – AT&T’s backbone capacity statistics – 2009
• Table 43 – Worldwide VoIP subscriber base – 2005 - 2010
• Table 44 – Worldwide VoIP services market value – 2008 - 2009
• Table 45 – Largest VoIP providers by subscribers – mid-2008
• Table 46 – Largest alternative VoIP providers by subscribers – Q1 2009
• Table 47 – Worldwide registered users of Skype – 2007 - 2009
• Table 48 – VoIP subscribers of major providers in the USA – 2007 - 2009
• Table 49 – VoIP subscribers and annual change in Japan – 2004 - 2008
• Table 50 – Japan – VoIP subscribers and market share by operator – 2008
• Table 51 – Japan – Carrier share of VoIP subscribers – 2007 - 2010
• Table 52 – Worldwide mobile subscribers and annual change – 2000 - 2010
• Table 53 – Mobile subscribers by region – 1993 - 2009
• Table 54 – Mobile subscribers and annual change in China – 1995 - 2009
• Table 55 – Indicative monthly mobile minutes of use – selected countries – 2008 - 2009
• Table 56 – Comparison of charges for mobile services baskets – OECD countries – August 2008
• Table 57 – Comparison of cheapest charges for services basket – Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Estonia, Norway and Denmark – April 2008
• Table 58 – Comparison of cheapest charges for services basket – Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, France and Great Britain – March 2007
• Table 59 – Rate per voice minute – selected developed countries – April 2008
• Table 60 – Comparison of most expensive charges for services basket – Switzerland, France, and Ireland – April 2008
• Table 61 – Monthly mobile broadband contract costs – Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Americas – 2007
• Table 62 – Worldwide average mobile monthly ARPU – 2005 - 2010
• Table 63 – Indicative comparison of selected countries by monthly mobile ARPU – 2009 - 2010
• Table 64 – Mobile ARPU (GSM and CDMA) and annual change in India – 2005 - 2008
• Table 65 – Mobinil blended monthly ARPU and AUPU – 2002 - 2008
• Table 66 – Blended mobile ARPU – selected carriers – 2008 - 2009
• Table 67 – Mobile data as a % of mobile revenues – leading developed countries – 2008
• Table 68 – Mobile data mobile ARPU – selected carriers – 2008 - 2009
• Table 69 – Worldwide mobile CAPEX – 2007 - 2010
• Table 70 – Worldwide mobile services revenue – 2008 - 2012
• Table 71 – Worldwide mobile handset sales – 2006 - 2009
• Table 72 – Worldwide mobile handset sales by quarter – 2009 - 2010
• Table 73 – Worldwide mobile handset sales – 2004 - 2010
• Table 74 – Mobile handset revenue worldwide – 2008 - 2009; 2012
• Table 75 – Historical mobile handset revenue worldwide – 2002 - 2005
• Table 76 – Handset supplier worldwide market share – top 5 suppliers – 2008 - 2010
• Table 77 – Handset supplier worldwide market shares – 1999 - 2009
• Table 78 – Worldwide smartphone device manufacturers by market share – 2009 - 2010
• Table 79 – Apple versus Nokia – handset division operating profit – 2008 - 2009
• Table 80 – Apple iPhone sales – 2009 - 2010
• Table 81 – Worldwide smartphone operating systems by market share – 2007 - 2010
• Table 82 – Smartphone operating systems by market share in the USA – Sep 2009; Dec 2009
• Table 83 – Prepaid subscribers and prepaid market share in Brazil – 2002 - 2009
• Table 84 – Mobile ARPU by technology, prepaid/postpaid/blended in India – June 2009
• Table 85 – Number of prepaid subscribers worldwide – 2008; 2010; 2012
• Table 86 – Global prepaid subscribers as a percentage of total subscribers – 2006; 2008; 2010
• Table 87 – Prepaid subscribers as a percentage of total subscribers in select countries – 2008
• Table 88 – Historical prepaid service revenue worldwide – 2005 - 2007
• Table 89 – Worldwide 3G subscribers – 2004 - 2010
• Table 90 – Worldwide LTE subscribers – 2013 - 2015
• Table 91 – Worldwide WiMAX subscribers – 2007 - 2008; 2010
• Table 92 – Worldwide mobile data revenue – 2006; 2008 - 2009
• Table 93 – Mobile data mobile ARPU – selected carriers worldwide – 2008 - 2009
• Table 94 – Monthly mobile broadband contract costs by region – 2007
• Table 95 – Worldwide text messages sent – 2008 - 2010
• Table 96 – Worldwide mobile music revenue – 2009; 2013
• Table 97 – Worldwide market share of mobile social network users – 2009 - 2010; 2013
• Table 98 – Worldwide wagers spent on mobile gambling – 2007; 2009; 2013
• Table 99 – Worldwide mobile gaming revenue – 2004 - 2009; 2014
• Table 100 – Worldwide mobile adult content and services revenue – 2005 - 2009
• Table 101 – Worldwide Mobile Location Based Service revenue – 2007; 2009; 2014
• Table 102 – Worldwide mobile Internet users – 2006; 2009; 2013
• Table 103 – Worldwide mobile ad spending – 2009 - 2010; 2013

• Exhibit 1 – Major global fixed satellite service operators
• Exhibit 2 – Faster broadband speeds offer more than just fast Internet
• Exhibit 3 – Why the average home will soon require 50Mb/s
• Exhibit 4 – Explanation: optical fibre
• Exhibit 5 – Indicative average download broadband speeds – select countries – 2009
• Exhibit 6 – Broadband – infrastructure blueprint
• Exhibit 7 – The Netherlands, leading FttH developments in Europe
• Exhibit 8 – Examples of estimated costs of fibre deployment in the USA
• Exhibit 9 – VoIP market – selected key developments
• Exhibit 10 – Leading consumer VoIP service providers by region1
• Exhibit 11 – Examples of selected alternative VoIP providers
• Exhibit 12 – VoIP causing problems in Bangladesh
• Exhibit 13 – Digital Dividend
• Exhibit 14 – Historical monthly mobile ARPU of top/bottom five carriers worldwide – Q3 2006
• Exhibit 15 – Satellite phone
• Exhibit 16 – Billions in revenue from replacements handsets
• Exhibit 17 – Handset prices in decline
• Exhibit 18 – Growth drivers for prepaid mobiles in emerging markets
• Exhibit 19 – Examples of operators reporting high prepaid growth – 2007 - 2009
• Exhibit 20 – Definition: Personal Wireless Broadband
• Exhibit 21 – Approximate data rates for selected services on mobile devices
• Exhibit 22 – Key mobile broadband services & product segments
• Exhibit 23 – Facebook becoming mobile social networking leader
• Exhibit 24 – Mobile UGC service example: MOKO.mobi
• Exhibit 25 – Mobile Digital Rights Management (MDRM)
• Exhibit 26 – Mobile adult service example: Cherrysauce
• Exhibit 27 – Location Based Systems (LBS) applications by market division
• Exhibit 28 – Gypsii and Twitter tie-up to launch Tweetsii
• Exhibit 29 – GPS applications and industry use
• Exhibit 30 – Definition: Geotagging / Geocoding
• Exhibit 31 – Examples of other mobile advertising models