More Mobile Phones Than People in the UK

Recently collated Christmas sales figures are revealing that the number of mobile phones currently in circulation in the UK is greater than its population size. The new total is based on the number of contract and prepay subscriptions and is further evidence of the significant mobile data growth witnessed in the past 2 years, coming after just 11 years of digital mobile cellular services being available in the UK.

A recent survey by the MDA of its members highlights some of the key factors leading to the current situation where market penetration of mobile ownership has now exceeded 100%.

Many customers are choosing to use more than one mobile phone in order to separate email from voice applications, or their personal and business communication. In future it will be possible for much of this technology to be fully combined in one device, however, this 'one size fits all' approach does not appeal to everyone.

As the world becomes a smaller place, with increasing international travel, there are growing numbers of visitor phones, where customers are paying local subscriptions for localised services, data content and support. This factor is even stronger in some tourist destinations around the world and where customers may have second homes abroad.

Advancements in technology are also contributing to the boom in mobile phone ownership with users keen to buy and keep handsets capable of the latest telemetry, telematic applications, and those linked with GPS separate from their day to day mobile phone devices.

Looking at European statistics for mobile phone ownership, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland and Italy have all exceeded 100% market penetration with Luxembourg reporting 133%.

Internationally, there are a number of factors impacting on high mobile subscription penetration; in certain countries there is little availability of an alternative means of communication. In regions such as China the general transition towards using mobile technology has outpaced landline growth and it is estimated that mobile phone subscribers will increase by 58 million in 2005 compared with 45 million for regular telephones. High penetration also arises in countries with high tourist or business travel requirements. Often it is economically beneficial for customers to adopt local mobile tariffs/billing, or advantageous for them to be able to operate greater cost control. In Italy it is also know that they exceeded 100% penetration early due to the very high adoption of pre-pay subscriptions.

Here in the UK, The Mobile Data Association forecasts that 2005 will see SMS figures increasing to deliver a total of 30 billion text messages, and WAP page impressions are expected to reach a total of 15 billion by the end of the year."

Posted to the site on 25th January 2005