Five billion. That's a lot of faces, a lot of eyes, and a lot of ears. It's also a lot of humans talking amongst one another, and according to a new iSuppli report, that's the number of wireless subscriptions that our planet is home to. Almost, anyway. The report estimates that the grand total of wireless subscriptions in the world will surpass the 5 billion mark this month, which equals nearly 75% of the world's population. Imagine that. 3 in 4 people, with a cell phone. It's also too crazy to believe. http://hothardware.com/News/5-Billion-Wireless-Subscriptions-Worldwide-Coming-Right-Up/
hot air. Most of these figures are wild and wrong/overestimated guesses. The bullshit now posted on the web is just that, shit. Many times you have to really, really check & double check the sources because they're all garbage. That "story" is another example of the garbage out there.
Agree with risktaker. Even if the figues add apples with apples (and not oranges) and avoid double-counting, you still have to look into what "subscription" means. For example, if "pay as you go" sim card is counted as a "subscriptions", there is no relation between these and the number of mobile phone users. Sim cards are so cheap that in the past when I wanted to change mobile phone company I just grabbed one. I have half a dozen and most are still working. That's in addition to sim cards I have given to friends and relatives visiting from abroad.
wow author is out of his mind total world population is around 6 billion with children under 18 making 25 % of world population + plus count all the home less and poor people around the world. actual number be around 3 billion which 50 %.
Around 25% of the worlds population does not even have electricity. Mobile phones would not be a lot of use if you couldn't charge them. http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...gap-developing-countries-energy-wood-charcoal I'm with the previous poster regarding the number of sims Vs actual mobile devices.
When I was in the philippines I saw many poor people who were making about $50 per month and they all had cell phones, but that said, about 1 billion people on this earth are under the age of 8. Except in the US, I have never seen an 8 year old with a cell phone. So 5 million wireless subs seems high. Alot of the world does not use subscriptions too. They have cell phones and they just buy cards with minutes on them or have someone transfer their minutes from one phone to another(something that is not offered in the US as far as I know) Anyway...if those types of phones are counted as subscriptions, then everytime someone changes there phone number with a sim card, then it counts as another sub. How do they keep track of the people that got rid of their old sims?