{"id":24536,"date":"2012-10-18T14:37:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T12:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=24536"},"modified":"2012-10-18T15:03:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T13:03:21","slug":"sas-real-mobile-penetration-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/24536\/sas-real-mobile-penetration-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"SA’s real mobile penetration revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The GSM Association (GSMA<\/a>) has released the results of a global, multi-year study, which shows that South Africa’s real mobile penetration per unique subscriber is 66%.<\/p>\n

Results found that by Q4 2012, total mobile connections across the globe will stand at 6.8 billion – including machine-to machine (M2M) communications. Exclusing M2M and inactive SIM cards, the figure stands at 5.9 billion cards<\/p>\n

“With consumers using an average of 1.85 SIM cards each, the total number of mobile subscribers globally will stand at 3.2 billion by Q4 2012,” the GSMA said, adding that this figure will grow to four billion within the next five years.<\/p>\n

Global penetration based on total connections is set to exceed 100% in 2013, with mobile subscriber penetration standing at only 45% by the end of 2012, the mobile operator association said.<\/p>\n

The research was conducted by the GSMA\u2019s Wireless Intelligence team over three years and across 39 developed and developing markets, and examined the total number of mobile connections, as well as the number of individual mobile subscribers.<\/p>\n

Individual mobile subscribers are defined as the unique users subscribed to mobile services.<\/p>\n

Subscribers vs connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis research, for the first time, highlights the difference between mobile connections and individual mobile subscribers, and points to a significant growth opportunity for the mobile industry as we continue to connect the world\u2019s population,\u201d said Anne Bouverot<\/a>, director general of the GSMA.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy identifying inactive SIMs and multiple SIM ownership, we have developed the most accurate measurement of the global mobile subscriber base, which shows that only 45 per cent of the world\u2019s population has subscribed to mobile services.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to GSMA’s finding’s, Europe has the highest real mobile penetration in the world, with countries averaging close to 90 per cent subscriber penetration.<\/p>\n

Africa has the lowest real penetration, with only one out of three people in the region subscribing to mobile services in 2012. This figure is expected to increase to 40 per cent in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn developing markets, where there is clearly an opportunity for growth for the mobile industry, SIM per user patterns are influenced by cost-conscious, low-usage consumers who tend to accumulate prepaid SIM cards depending on the latest and most affordable prepaid tariffs,\u201d Bouverot said.<\/p>\n

By looking at total connections in South Africa, the country has a 138% mobile penetration. When looking at individual subscribers, the figure is at 66% of the population.<\/p>\n

These figures are projected to increase to 171% and 79% by 2017, respectively.<\/p>\n

Total connection and subscriber penetration by region<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Region<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2017<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2017<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
World<\/strong><\/td>\n93%<\/strong><\/td>\n114%<\/strong><\/td>\n45%<\/strong><\/td>\n53%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Europe<\/td>\n135%<\/td>\n152%<\/td>\n76%<\/td>\n80%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oceania<\/td>\n108%<\/td>\n119%<\/td>\n74%<\/td>\n76%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Northern America<\/td>\n108%<\/td>\n117%<\/td>\n69%<\/td>\n70%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Southern America<\/td>\n128%<\/td>\n156%<\/td>\n57%<\/td>\n65%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Asia<\/td>\n87%<\/td>\n110%<\/td>\n40%<\/td>\n49%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Africa<\/td>\n68%<\/td>\n88%<\/td>\n33%<\/td>\n40%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Total connection and subscriber penetration by economy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
Economy<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2017<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2017<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Developed<\/td>\n122%<\/td>\n133%<\/td>\n79%<\/td>\n81%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Developing<\/td>\n87%<\/td>\n110%<\/td>\n39%<\/td>\n47%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Total connection and subscriber penetration by country<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nConnections 2017<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2012<\/strong><\/td>\nSubscribers 2017<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Japan<\/td>\n113%<\/td>\n132%<\/td>\n88%<\/td>\n92%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
UK<\/td>\n123%<\/td>\n128%<\/td>\n87%<\/td>\n89%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spain<\/td>\n119%<\/td>\n129%<\/td>\n81%<\/td>\n84%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Israel<\/td>\n135%<\/td>\n152%<\/td>\n76%<\/td>\n80%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russia<\/td>\n164%<\/td>\n183%<\/td>\n73%<\/td>\n79%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Africa<\/strong><\/td>\n138%<\/strong><\/td>\n171%<\/strong><\/td>\n66%<\/strong><\/td>\n79%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brazil<\/td>\n140%<\/td>\n177%<\/td>\n58%<\/td>\n68%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
China<\/td>\n82%<\/td>\n107%<\/td>\n43%<\/td>\n52%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
India<\/td>\n76%<\/td>\n100%<\/td>\n26%<\/td>\n40%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mobile Internet trends in emerging markets<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

App stores gaining ground in emerging markets<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SA\u2019s slide towards the wrong side of the digital divide<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

F&S alludes to mobile data war<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mobile broadband can boost SA economy: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SA\u2019s mobile broadband speeds poor: Akamai<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The GSM Association has released the results of a global, multi-year study, which shows that South Africa’s real mobile penetration per unique subscriber is 66%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[25,1750,4392,853],"class_list":["post-24536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-active","tag-gsma","tag-mobile-penetration","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24536"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24548,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24536\/revisions\/24548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}