The number of mobile phones that are connected to a network have crossed the 4 billion mark worldwide, according to figures reported by the GSMA, a wireless trade association. Reuters reports that the number of connections is expected to grow to 6 billion by 2013, which comes awfully close to the world population which stands at about 6.8 billion people today.
However, it’s unclear how many people in the world have a cellphone because often times people have two, or own a cellphone and a broadband wireless modem, which counts as two connections. For example, in Western Europe, mobile broadband cards are estimated to account for a fifth of all connections. That differs drastically from developing countries, where phones are often shared. The GSMA said mobile broadband connections are estimated to make up about 100 million of the connections worldwide.
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