Two very important events have occurred that signal the shift on personal communications, and mobile/cellular adoption today and future. While these two events are totally related, it probably is coincidence that both were announced just days apart…
You probably have heard that the global cellphone penetration has reached 50 percent:
According to the International Programs Center of the U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the world reached 6,634,294,193 on Thursday.
At the same time 2,571,563,279 people were using the most widely used mobile technology, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), according to global trade body GSM Association. The second largest mobile technology, CDMA, had 421.4 million users at end September.
Those are very impressive numbers.
And on the heels of the above announcement, at&t has decided to quit the pay-phone business:
AT&T Inc., the nation’s largest phone carrier, said Monday that it is getting out of the 129-year-old pay-phone business.
Since 1998, however, the number of pay phones in service has shrunk from 2.6 million to about 1 million, according to AT&T. The main reason has been the proliferation of cellular phones, which were invented in the 1970s.
AT&T said that it will continue to sell wholesale pay-phone service to independent operators, and it expects them to pick up some of its business.
The above reflects the shift on personal communications, and its future…
ceo