Mobile broadband, Voip subscribers and other communication statistics and forecasts

The number of cellular mobile broadband subscribers jumped almost 60 per cent in 2010 to 558 million worldwide and should top two billion by 2015 Mobile broadband subscribers surpassed wireline broadband subscribers in 2010 (558 million vs. 500 million)

China Telecom plans to triple the number of users for its fibre-optic broadband service this year to reach 30 million. The company further aims to grow the user base to 100 million by the end of 2015.

China Telecom plans to cover every city in China with fiber broadband service in three years and convert all copper lines to fiber, the China Daily reported in February. Under the Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government will focus on developing the telecommunications infrastructure with total investments reaching CNY 2 trillion.

Fiber optics would provide those users with speeds of up to 100 Mbps, at prices cheaper than standard DSL connections. Japan and South Korea have already upgraded their networks, but China’s size makes the project especially difficult. When completed, China will have the largest fiber optic network in the world. The company plans to put the superior bandwidth to use by introducing high-definition IPTV, 3D media and encouraging device manufacturers to rely more on cloud computing

China Mobile announced an expenditure of $2.2 billion to construct a passive optical network (PON) in cooperation with China Tietong Telecommunications Corp. China Mobile also is aiming to put its smart grid plan into motion and has plans to build 1 million Wi-Fi hot-spots during the next three years.

By 2015, China’s mobile communications user base will reach more than 1.1 billion with total Internet users climbing to 600 million, representing a 40 percent penetration rate.

Infonetics forecasts the number of mobile phone subscribers to grow to 6.4 billion in 2015. The current global population is almost 7 billion.

The number of VoIP subscribers (including VoIP over access lines and over other broadband lines, such as cable) is forecast to grow from 157 million in 2010 to 264 million in 2015.

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