Mobile Telephone Subscriptions Record Sharp Increase in The Gambia

APA-Banjul (The Gambia) The Gambia with a population of about 1.5 million people has more than 800,000 mobile subscribers but only about 50,000 fixed telephone lines in service, APA learns here Tuesday.

Mobile phone subscriptions have rocketed amid stiff competition among three mobile operators in country.

According to a publication by the Guardian newspaper of the United Kingdom, developing countries now account for about two-thirds of the mobile telephones in use in the world, compared with less than half of subscriptions in 2002.

Quoting a report on a global survey conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Guardian reveals that by the end of last year, there was an estimated 4.1billion mobile subscriptions world wide, up from 1billion in 2002. The Guardian reports that this figure represents six in 10 of the world's population.

According to the report, much of the take-up is thought to have been driven by money transfer services that allow people without bank accounts to send money speedily and safely by text messages, which the recipient - typically a family member - can cash in at the other end. The report disclosed that Vodafone's M-Pesa money transfer service was launched in Kenya in 2007 and now has 5 million users.

Posted to the site on 4th March 2009