Mobile subscriptions surpass total population; data usage soars
According to a January 2012 report from telecom analyst firm ROA Consulting, at the end of 2011, South Korea had 53.1 million mobile subscriptions, more than one subscription per person in the country. More telling, however, is the amount of smartphone subscriptions added during the year.
The report estimated that South Korea added approximately 16.3 million smartphone subscriptions from December 2010 to December 2011. The rapid increase in smartphones led mobile data traffic to nearly double from 4,339 terabytes in December 2010 to 7,458 terabytes in March 2011.
And the smartphone market shows no signs of slowing down—the firm estimates smartphones will account for more than 90% of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2013.
Will the US, with smartphones accounting for 38% of mobile phones in 2011, follow the same trend? Not quite. eMarketer forecasts strong growth in US smartphone users, but penetration will only reach 48.5% of mobile users in 2013.
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