花辨直播官方版_花辨直播平台官方app下载_花辨直播免费版app下载

Science and Health

UN: 4.6b mobile phone subscriptions worldwide

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-02-15 19:32
Large Medium Small

The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide has reached 4.6 billion and is expected to increase to five billion this year, the UN telecommunications agency said Monday.

Mobile phone providers in rich countries offer advanced services and handsets, while people in developing countries increasingly use the mobile phone for health services and banking, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

"Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services," said the agency's Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure.

Related readings:
UN: 4.6b mobile phone subscriptions worldwide 3G brings a boom to mobile phone industry
UN: 4.6b mobile phone subscriptions worldwide China produces 600m mobile phones in 2009
UN: 4.6b mobile phone subscriptions worldwide Mobile phone users will have to provide ID information
UN: 4.6b mobile phone subscriptions worldwide Mobile phone brands top online buzz

"The simplest, low-end mobile phone can do so much to improve health care in the developing world," Toure said in a statement, citing examples of patients receiving reminder messages on their mobile phone ahead of a medical appointment or text messages instructing them how to take complex medication.

The number of mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide is expected to exceed one billion this year, the agency said. There were around 600 million such subscriptions at the end of 2009, it added.

Web access by people on the move, including through laptops and smart mobile devices, will probably surpass web access from desktop computers within the next five years, the agency said.