At the end of 2006, Asia-Pacific mobile connections passed the 1 billion mark. The Asia-Pacific reached a 30% penetration rate and is expected to grow by 19% between 2006 and 2007, according to the respected newsletter Wireless Intelligence.
India overtook China in terms of growth rate in Q1 2007. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia have gained strong momentum over the past few quarters with almost 50 million net additions between 2005 and 2006.
Among these top markets, LIRNEasia is active in all but China, a gap we intend to fill shortly.
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zzainudeen
This article in the Daily Mirror FINANCIAL TIMES, Sri Lanka (http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/02/16/ft/08.asp) reports Snr Vice President Customer & Market Operations of Nokia stating that Sri Lanka is one of the ‘most potential markets for mobile phones in the Asia Pacific.’
The Shoestrings2 findings have shown that at the bottom of the pyramid, the number of new connections in the coming 2 years will be in the range of 1.7million (40% of which will be fixed); compared to the estimated 30million in Pakistan and 100 million in India (about 67% of which will be mobile), this is not spectacular. But perhaps Nokia is expecting higher growth potential in the ‘middle and top’ of the pyramid in Sri Lanka.
(Given India’s population of just over 1 billion, the ‘3 billion subscriber mark’ reportedly passed by India in this article is clearly wrong)