Worldwide wireless growth to be driven by emerging markets

The United States is expected to add more than 65 million mobile subscribers to the worldwide subscriber base between 2007 and 2012, according to a new report from Portio Research.
About 1.8 billion subscribers are expected to be added worldwide during the period. Two-thirds of those subscribers will come from 10 fast-growing markets, nine of which are high-volume, low-average revenue per user emerging markets. The other market is the United States, which boasts one of the highest ARPU rates and strongest growth rates in the world, said the report.
Portio said while markets such as China and India will add far more subscribers to the worldwide subscriber base, a subscriber in the U.S. will generate three to 13 times as much revenue as their counterparts in emerging markets. In total, the United States will contribute only about 5.5% to the total number of new subscribers between 2007 and 2012 in the top 20 markets, but will account for about 25.2% of total mobile service revenues.