Telegeography recently reported that aggregated Q2 revenues from top 15 largest service providers grew by just a fraction of percent than previous quarter. Reason, mere 130 million subscribers addition in Q2 (Now in total we have 4.3 billion Wireless subscribers), representing further drop in quarterly growth rate. Is it because of recession?
On an annual basis, global wireless subscriber growth is on downward path. In 2008, the growth pegged at 20{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} and now Telegeography is predicting that it may dip down to 15{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} in 2009. Even now recession is backing out its feet, it will take some time to see up rise in growth rate.
Where do we see the subscriber count reaching by 2013? As per Telegeography, we could still see the mark of 6 billion reaching by late 2013, but then we will have to keep our optimism intact for coming years when Global Economy would start bouncing back.
The well known facts are not hidden. Out of ten added subscribers three of the top ten are from China and five from India. China mobile is leading the charge of subscriber addition followed by our own Bharti Airtel, Voda-Essar & Reliance. If you look beyond India & China, then 15 out of 17 subscribers added are from BRIC countries. So now you know where the growth lies?
