Description

This 7th Mass Media 2008 Report puts the overall 7th Mass Media business into context and
explains the scale and gives clarity to confusing terminology. While there are nearly 4 billion
subscribers, that is not 4 billion people with a mobile phone. One in four subscriptions is a second or
third subscription for the same user. The total unique mobile phone owner number is only 3 billion -
still twice the number of the next biggest industry by reach. And of those 3 billion people, they do not
actively carry around 4 billion phones. Some users have multiple SIM cards to switch between
networks and only have one phone. So the total installed base of mobile phones in use by the three
billion unique phone owners, is 3.4 billion mobile phones. Similarly the Report looks at the migration
of connectivity and the penetration rates of 2G, 2.5G and 3G. The Report also looks at the handset
market, on both the basis of new phone sales and installed base, of cameraphones, musicphones,
smartphones, browser phones, etc. The data has breakdowns by region and by age.