Business | Telecoms
Global mobile penetration to reach 4b by 2010
Worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions are expected to reach four billion by 2010, a Nokia official has said.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:41 January 23, 2008
Manama: Worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions are expected to reach four billion by 2010, a Nokia official has said.
"The mobile penetration reached 3.3 billion last November, a figure that is equivalent to half of the world's population, and our forecasts are that it will be four billions within two years," Yolande Pineda, Nokia communication director for the Middle East and Africa, said yesterday.
The first cellular network was launched in 1981, and Nokia became the highest selling brand worldwide in 1998, she said.
Nokia is today the world's largest cell phone maker and produces four out of every 10 mobile phones sold worldwide.
"We are making huge investments and reaching out to many people from diverse backgrounds and in different countries in order to understand and appreciate their needs, aspirations and requirements," she said during a launch ceremony to showcase in Bahrain its range of new mobile devices, including the Nokia 7900 Prism, the Nokia 8800 Arte and the 5310 and 5610 Xpress Music.
"The new devices, which have been developed after Nokia's segmentation study into consumers, are based on the lifestyle needs and requirements of the young, fashion conscious and sociable mobile users in the Gulf," she said.
"Through the segmentation study, Nokia has identified a number of target segments and therefore developed mobile devices that fit precisely into lifestyles favoured by users," she said.
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