DUBLIN, Ireland-More than 250 million customers worldwide were using the Global System for Mobile communications phones at the end of 1999, according to the GSM Association.
The association attributes the strong growth to soaring global markets, the sustained penetration of new and emerging markets and the widespread global demand for people to communicate and access information on the move.
“GSM is clearly today’s dominant wireless technology-with more customers than all other wireless standards of the world combined,” said Michael Stocks, chairman of the GSM Association.
“In 1992, there were just 250,000 GSM users in the world. Now that market has increased a thousand times to reach 250 million, which means one in every 25 people in the world has a GSM phone, and yet the pace of growth continues to increase dramatically.”
China, with close to 35 million customers, is expected to maintain its position as the largest single GSM market in the world, according to the association. Europe and North America also are experiencing a dramatic rate of expansion. Wireless phone penetration is overtaking that of fixed-line phones in some markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Across all markets we are witnessing the widespread take-up of a host of GSM value-added services, beyond voice usage, including data and text applications,” added Stocks. “This demonstrates how GSM is an evolving technology that offers exciting new services and opportunities for subscribers.”
