Asia leads in mobile uptake

STOCKHOLM: The Asia-Pacific region accounted for half the increase in global mobile subscriptions during the final three months of 2012, according to latest figures.

An update to the Ericsson Mobility Report, published by the telecoms firm, shows that global mobile penetration reached 89% in the quarter and there were 140m net additions, with 73m coming in Asia Pacific.

And within that, China was the single largest contributor, with 31m net additions, or 22% of the global total. There were also 11m net additions in India, 9m in Bangladesh and 8m in Indonesia.

Africa, too, saw significant growth, with 30m net additions overall, 20% of which originated in Nigeria.

The mature markets of Western Europe and North America recorded the smallest regional increases, at just 2m each.

The report http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2013/ericsson-mobility-report-february-2013.pdf