Half of world's population owns a mobile phone, UN study reveals

[bananas]

Source: Telegraph

The International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency, estimates that there are around 4.1 billion mobile phone subscribers across the globe, up from one billion in 2002, with developing nations one of the fastest-growing markets.

By Claudine Beaumont
Last Updated: 5:55PM GMT 03 Mar 2009

More than half of the world’s population owns a mobile phone, according to the latest figures from the United Nations.

The International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency, estimates that there are around 4.1 billion mobile phone subscribers across the globe, up from one billion in 2002, with developing nations one of the fastest-growing markets.

In countries such as India and many African nations, mobile phones are used for banking purposes and as a secure way to send money between relatives. Many small traders in areas that lack fixed line phone networks also use mobile phones to run their business, sending text messages to clients to inform them of the latest prices, and arrange delivery of products to far-flung towns and villages.

The UN estimates that people in developing nations now account for around two-thirds of all mobile phones users, compared to just under half of all subscriptions in 2002.

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Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/4933263/Half-of-worlds-population-owns-a-mobile-phone-UN-study-reveals.html

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Graph from the ITU press release at http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2009/07.html

[Politicalboi]

1. I am happy to say

I don't have one. All that money just to talk to someone. How did we survive without them for so long. I only miss having one when I need directions.

[Mari333]

2. I dont have one either...so there are 2 of us.

:)

[marybourg]

3. 3. nt.

[Marrah_G]

20. Make that three- I do not own one

[Mojorabbit]

11. Mine died months ago and I don't miss it at all. nt

[rpannier]

19. Cell phone business is very different in many parts of the world

I have a cell phone and I don't get charged for every minute I'm on it -- I don't have to buy 600 'free minutes' a month.

My contract works the same way a landline phone works.

If someone calls me, I don't have to worry about 'using up my minutes'

I pay about 50 a month and that covers local and (I think) 100 text messages -- though I don't text that much.

[ReliantJ]

4. I wonder if this will have any negative affects?

No Buzz Killer

[mikelgb]

5. "We all have cell phones, so come on let's get real" -Al Yankovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbAlHPVembU&feature=related

cellphones. let's get real.

[tom_paine]

6. Think of all the energy that went into producing those 10,000,000,000 or so cellphones

(because most people, at least in America, have had many more than one)

Think of the heavy metals waste and other waste in order to manufacture a heap of short lived cellphones 10,000,000,000 and maybe more strong.

Boggles the mind.

FULL DISCLAIMER: I have had 2 cellphones. I used the first until it literally became impossible to continue to use it. I have always used it literally only a handful of times a year for emergency or special occasions. It is NOT a part of my daily life.

[customerserviceguy]

16. Got news for ya

Solar cells involve the same waste products, so do computers, including the one you're reading this on right now. I'd also bet that the poorest folks in the half that own the phones keep theirs way longer than the two years that phone companies start pushing upgrades at.

[tom_paine]

23. That's not news to me, but thanks anyway.

I've owned more computers than I have cell phones. Recently I have read where most of our "morally superior" computer recycling goes, to China, where peasantssmash them apart with hammers.

The last thing you said was almost certainly true, regarding poor people holding onto their phones much longer. I was not mentioning this from the angle of being "morally superior", but to point out the facts.

I am well aware that we are all addicted to what Western Civilization has bequeathed us, which is, for the top 5% of people on Earth (of which you and I, in terms of personal wealth, probably reside in the top 1%) a "Star Trek" Antimatter Age lifestyle using Oil Age energy and technology.

Whoops! Putting the cart before the horse, aren't we?

My point was not to wax morally superior, hence my pointing out that I have owned cellphones like anyone else, and computers and all the rest that you ocrrrectly point out generates the same kind of waste.

My point was to bring up the massive amounts of waste generated by even this small aspect of "living the Antimatter Age lifestyle with Oil Age energy inputs and pollution.

Which is a lot to say that I basically agree with what you said, and that it's not news to me.

[customerserviceguy]

25. Sorry

didn't mean to imply that.

My point is that we have a lot of dirty technologies that either need to be replaced by better science, or we need to find ways to deal with their waste products. Cell phones have leapfrogged older technologies that developing nations have not had to put up with. Any history museum, or good history book with pictures of a city from a hundred years ago will show you how the sky was crowded with telephone poles and wires before modern switching equipment and underground utilities became common.

It becomes harder to hide the truth from people who can travel and communicate. I also share your disdain for the dirty part of technology, but sometimes, it's just gotta be that way. I'd gladly trade the residues of solar cells for the air pollution from coal burning any day. Progress does not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[tom_paine]

34. Well said and agreed. No "sorry" required. n/t

[onehandle]

7. Cell phones didn't become a necessity for me until the iPhone gave me near full Internet.

I can't count the number of times in the last year it's saved me time and money.

Paid for itself many times over.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. And we could be on our way towards half of the worlds population

owning a mobile home.... if we don't get global climate change under control. I mean mobile homes in the most literal sense....

[Xithras]

9. Yes, and most of that growth is in the third world.

Cellphones have been a boon to the poor, rural areas of the planet where landline telephone systems were either nonexistent or so outdated that only party-line calling was supported. It costs a fortune to put up poles and string expensive copper or fiber cable across remote areas, and upkeep costs in undeveloped areas are staggering. In contrast, tossing up a cell tower and granting de-facto phone service to thousands of homes with a flip of a switch is CHEAP and EASY.

Across large swaths of Africa, cellphones are the ONLY phone service available, and their recent availability marks the first time those regions have ever had phone service of any sort.

[ozu]

10. I'm surprised most people still keep land lines

With cell and voip coverage, there's really not much need unless you're in a remote area.

[Mojorabbit]

12. After the three hurricanes

we had in six weeks a few years ago, land lines were the only thing that worked. I am keeping mine.

[kentauros]

13. I keep a landline.

Also because of hurricanes and I'm still not much of a cell-user. Mine will go dead before I remember I even own it :P

One thing most people seem to be unaware of is that cell towers are connected to the phone lines. Yes, your cell phone is being connected to whomever-else's cell phone via a "landline" ;) I know this, too, by doing contract drafting work on towers and the fiber-optic networks leading up to the system we have now.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_network#Mobile_phone_networks

"All of the cell sites are connected to cellular telephone exchanges "switches", which in turn connect to the public telephone network or another switch of the cellular company."

[Donnachaidh]

15. TRY to use a cell phone in a major disaster

It WON'T work.

After the last quake we were in, the land lines came back faster and they were the only way to connect to people outside the area. Poo poo all you want, but landlines are still useful, especially when you most need them.

[customerserviceguy]

17. I'll probably have one until they make it cost-prohibitive

You can't rely on an Internet connection (so far) the way that you can a landline connection. Besides, I'm sure I don't get half the radiation from my landline that people get from their cell phones.

[dysfunctional press]

33. we tried going without a landline- it was WAY too expensive.

and the landline is MUCH more dependable.

[pimpbot]

14. Whats with the anti-cell phone people in here?

What an amazing technology! Especially in developing nations, cell phones have enabled so many people the ability to keep in touch with friends and family far away. Most of these people dont even have a "cell phone", but a home phone that is a base station which uses cell technology to communicate back to the central office. These base stations can even run off solar so no power grid access is needed.

Yes we need to deal with the waste issues. Most cell service providers will take your old phone for donation or recycling. Many of the discarded cell phones are used by shelters or college police to give to women or kids walking home alone at night and can only be used to call 911. Yet another great use of the technology.

Not to mention no telemarketers!

Maybe I'm biased, landline free for 10 years :)

[customerserviceguy]

18. We seem to have a lot of folks here

who distrust technology. Still, I would think that a nation would put the provision of clean drinking water as a higher priority than building cell towers.

[kentauros]

21. I wouldn't call people "anti" cell-phone.

Only that we don't have as great a need/desire/use for them or their tech as the rest of y'all.

Oh, the idea that there are no telemarketers on cell-phones is no more. Luckily there is a "do not call" number for cell phones as there is for landlines. I also will not get advertising text-messages on my landline, like I do for my 7-year-old cell phone, at $0.15 per txt ;)

I do have Skype at home so I can call my girlfriend in New Zealand for free :D

[LiberalPersona]

31. Cell phones

are excellent emergency devices, you can instantly report an accident or crime, and call for help from almost anywhere without having to seek out a regular phone which takes precious time.

[Sultana]

22. Those numbers are incredible, I read about it on Sunday

Argh, my Alltel pay as you go Razr didn't even work outside of my city....and get this I was in the same freaking state. FU Alltel
:grr: :grr: :grr: :nuke:

Since I am in England now, I have a dual sim phone, it's awesome. :headbang:

[captain jack]

24. I don't have no cell phone and I don't even care to have one.

[bikebloke]

26. I belong to the other half.

There's nothing so important in my life that I have to be on call where ever I am. I have a land line with an answering machine. That works for me.

[cobalt1999]

27. Now watch, in twenty years 1/2 the world will have brain cancer

Not that I believe that, or, even if I did, I'm not giving up my iPhone.

[Xithras]

29. Well, since the world population is expected to hit 8 bln in 2030, that may not be a bad thing

That's certainly one way to check population growth.

[David__77]

28. Excellent news!

This is a wonderful thing for the developing countries especially. Land lines are much more expensive. Chinese who never had a home phone now can talk on a phone anywhere, staying in contact with others. This is a democratic measure, a form of people's power.

[daleo]

30. I only have a land line

Soon, that will be the status symbol. For one thing, it means you have a home.

[dysfunctional press]

32. shouldn't that read "owns mobile phones"...?

or are they all sharing just the one...?:shrug: