India and China Drive Mobile Growth

Telecom companies must be brushing up on their Hindi. India doubled its cell phone user population in 2006, adding more subscribers than Britain had total, according to a new international communications report. The 150 million Indian phone-toters represent just 14% of the population. China meanwhile sent 429 billion text messages, roughly 967 per user, the most of any country.

Those countries, together with Brazil and Russia, were the driving growth markets for the massive mobile phone industry, which represented 53% of total telecom revenue. The survey also monitored TV and broadband. Britain won out in broadband and digital TV adoption, while the US and Japan proved the most dedicated couch potatoes, watching 4 ½ hours of TV per day. (More telecom industry stories.)