SINGAPORE-The number of mobile-phone subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region reached 230 million at the end of 2000, a 52-percent increase compared with 1999 results, according to Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group. China led the region with 85.3 million users at end-2000.
The Philippines saw a 132-percent increase in user numbers from 1999, with 6.3 million subscribers at the end of last year. The Indian cellular market surpassed 3.1 million subscribers, up 97 percent from 1999 results, Gartner Dataquest said.
“After several years in the doldrums, the Indian cellular market has at last begun to rack up significant subscribers, which in future years, could replicate the type of growth patterns that China has enjoyed,” said Kobita Desai, industry analyst for Gartner Dataquest’s mobile research in India.
The company estimates there were 34.4 million mobile Internet users in the region at the end of 2000, with Japan and South Korea dominating the region’s mobile Internet market.