Planet Earth Hits 4 Billion Mobile Connections; 6 Billion Expected by 2013

If you think the amount of time many teenagers talk on their cell phones is excessive, just imagine how much the world talks on cell phones.

While that might not seem like such an easy number to accurately quantify, today we have one: 4 billion mobile connections today and 6 billion by 2013.

Says who? The world has made its fourth-billionth connection according to Wireless Intelligence, which is the GSMA’s market intelligence unit.

The GSMA, which “represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry,” says it “spans 219 countries, unites more than 750 of the world’s mobile operators as well as 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem”.

So, the new data should hold credibility. Even more, the GSMA says 100 million of the world’s 4 billion connections can be attributed to the increasingly growing mobile broadband sector.

With 1.1 billion fixed broadband lines today, according to the GSMA, only 16.6 percent of the world’s population is utilizing broadband.

But with 100 million mobile connections today, that’s an increasingly loud signal that the world’s consumers are using cell phones and using them in conjunction with high-speed data needs such as surfing the Web, mobile TV and mobile radio.