Brazil is the third country in growth of cell phones
Valor Econômico - 02/21/2008
Brazil ranked third among the countries that most attracted new cell phone subscribers in 2007, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It was only behind China and India. No less than 21 million mobile telephones were enabled in the Brazilian market last year, a 17% growth in this telecommunications segment. Now, 120.9 million people have cell phones in the country, that is, 63.6% of the population. The growth was only greater in China, with 79 million new subscribers, and in India, with 45 million - which can be explained by the size of their populations and by the particular moment of the cell phone market in these countries. Russia was in fourth place, with 20 million, right behind Brazil. These four countries, which form the so-called Brics, had, together, almost one billion cell phone users in 2007, or one-third of the total of users worldwide. Added to the users in the United States, Japan and Indonesia, the seven countries have half the mobile telephones in the world. According to the ITU, the total number of holders of conventional and/or mobile telephones increased from 1 billion in 1997 to 4.2 billion in 2007, worldwide. Cell phones had the greatest expansion. Since 2000, the users of cell phones grew 20 times, representing 70% of all telephone subscribers.