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Latin America surpassed Western Europe to become the world’s second-largest mobile region during the second quarter of the year, according to the latest Wireless Intelligence report, Quarterly World Review: Q2 2010. The Americas region reached 530 million mobile connections by the end of June 2010, adding almost 15 million in net additions during the quarter. This saw it overtake Western Europe, which fell from around 520 million connections in Q1 to 515 million in Q2. The Americas is now the world’s second-largest mobile market after Asia-Pacific, which reached 2.4 billion mobile connections in the quarter, accounting for around 47 percent of the global total.

Strong mobile growth was recorded across the vast majority of the Latin American markets with only seven operators in the region reporting a decline in connections from the previous quarter; this was less than half the number of operators that reported negative net additions in both Western Europe and Asia-Pacific. Brazil – the world’s fifth-largest mobile market – accounted for just over a third of all mobile connections in the Americas. Brazil’s mobile market grew by 16 percent year-on-year to reach 188 million connections in Q2. It is expected to have reached 100 percent mobile penetration and the 200 million connections mark by year-end.

“In recent quarters, Latin American mobile operators have increased their marketing and technological investments, which have had a positive impact on connections growth,” said Joss Gillet, Senior Analyst at Wireless Intelligence. “This has also led to increased demand for new data services in the region. Compared to the more saturated European markets, the Americas region still has plenty of room for growth.”

Elsewhere, ongoing growth in Africa – which added to 16.2 million connections to reach 496 million – meant that the region overtook Eastern Europe to become the world’s fourth-largest mobile market in the quarter (behind Western Europe). Connections in Eastern Europe recovered slightly from the previous quarter but added just 7 million net additions to reach 492 million.

The total global mobile market grew by 159.6 million connections in the quarter – the equivalent of over 1.8 million net additions per day – to reach 4.98 billion in total. The 5 billion global connections mark was achieved shortly after the close of the quarter. Wireless Intelligence predicts that the 6 billion global connections milestone will be achieved in the first half of 2012. The mobile penetration rate on a global basis at the 5 billion mark was 74 percent, compared to 60 percent at 4 billion.

The new Wireless Intelligence report Quarterly World Review: Q2 2010 is available to registered members and select members of the media. Contact us for more information.

Regional highlights

Asia-Pacific (2.4 billion connections, 47% of global total): The world’s two largest mobile markets – China and India – were responsible for the majority of growth in the Asia-Pacific region. China maintained strong growth adding 29.1 million new connections in Q2, an average of 9.7 million per month over the period. Market-leader China Mobile added 15.2 million connections – more than both its competitors combined. In India, operators added 51.2 million connections, bringing the market to a total of 635.5 million.

Americas: (529 million, 11%): Chile and Brazil recorded quarterly mobile connections growth of 3.5 percent while Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru grew by around 2.5 percent on average. Meanwhile, almost half of the top 20 fastest growing markets in the Americas were located in the Caribbean (which represents only 5 percent of the region’s total connections). Mobile penetration in the Americas reached 90 percent in the quarter and is forecast to surpass the 100 percent milestone in 2012.

Western Europe (515 million, 10%): Western European operators reported 514.7 million mobile connections after recording a net decline of 5.2 million quarter-on-quarter. Western Europe is the most saturated mobile region globally with mobile penetration at 130 percent and yearly connections growth at a low 2 percent. In Q2, 14 mobile operators reported negative quarterly net additions. Despite their high level of maturity, Nordic countries are amongst the fastest-growing markets in Western Europe, with Finland in pole position; total connections in Finland grew by 13 percent year-on-year.

Africa (496 million, 10%): The most significant development in the region during the quarter was the completion of Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain’s African operations (excluding Sudan and Morocco) for US$10.7 billion in early June. Bharti Airtel reported that its 15 newly-acquired African networks ended Q2 with a combined 36.4 million connections. Meanwhile, the largest African mobile market, Nigeria, reached 78.7 million connections in Q2 recording net additions of 2.3 million. This is down from the 3.3 million added last quarter but still enough to give Nigeria the region’s highest net additions for the third consecutive quarter.

Eastern Europe (492 million, 10%): Eastern Europe recovered slightly from the previous quarter’s losses, improving on both the number of operators reporting negative net additions as well as the overall loss. Quarterly, 24 operators reported a net connections decline (representing a loss of 1.6 million connections) while 18 reported an annual decline (3.2 million). Romania was the worst affected Eastern European market for negative additions. There were four network launches during the quarter in Eastern Europe, including HSPA+ rollouts in Belarus (MTS), Estonia (Elisa), and Slovenia (Mobitel).

USA/Canada (313 million, 6%): US market-leader Verizon Wireless reported the highest organic connections growth in Q2 with net additions of 1.6 million, ending the quarter with 99.7 million total connections. However, this was down from 100.1 million total connections in Q1 following completion of the divesture of 2.1 million connections to comply with regulatory conditions imposed as part of its acquisition of Alltel. Meanwhile, the Canadian market has recently been shaken-up by several new entrants. WIND Mobile (Globalive) which launched in December 2009, backed by Orascom, reported that it finished Q2 with 94,000 connections and subsequently passed the 100,000 milestone in early July. Two further new entrants began operations in Q2, with both Mobilicity (DAVE Wireless) and Public Mobile launching services in May.

Middle East (280 million, 6%): Turkey – the largest market in the region – reported its third consecutive decline (and the fifth decline in the last six quarters) with the loss of 261,000 connections in Q2. Total connections fell to 61.5 million following an annual decline of 2.1 million connections. The Turkish mobile market witnessed the introduction of significant regulatory changes during the quarter, including a 52 percent reduction in Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs).