The Mobile Economy 2019

By the end of 2018, 5.1 billion people around the world subscribed to mobile services, accounting for 67 percent of the global population. Of the 710 million people expected to subscribe to mobile services for the first time over the next seven years, half will come from the Asia Pacific region and just under a quarter will come from Sub-Saharan Africa. This growth in connectivity is helping the mobile industry increase its impact across all the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and is spurring adoption of mobile-based tools and solutions (for example, in agriculture, education and healthcare) that aim to improve livelihoods in low- to middle-income countries.

This report provides the latest insights on the state of the mobile industry worldwide, providing a range of technology, socio-economic and financial datasets, including forecasts out to 2025. The paper contains the following sections:

1. The mobile market in numbers.
2. Mobile contributing to economic growth and addressing social challenges.
3. Key trends shaping the mobile industry.
4. Policies for digital advancement.