Two Billion Now Have Mobile Phones

[buzzsaw_23]

Two billion now have mobile phones
September 19, 2005 - 8:24AM


The number of mobile phone subscribers in the world has surpassed the two billion milestone, says Wireless Intelligence, an information service set up by industry body GSM Association and consulting firm Ovum.

"The bulk of the new growth now is coming from large, less well-developed markets such as China, India, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa," Wireless Intelligence said in a statement.

The largest mobile phone maker, Finnish Nokia, said last month it expects the two billion mark to be reached in the October-to-December quarter and three billion by 2010.

<snip>

"Although total connections are higher than the real number of users due to multiple connections, or inactive pre-paid connections, this is still a significant landmark for the industry," he added.

http://smh.com.au/news/Business/Two-billion-now-have-mobile-phones/2005/09/19/1126981970376.html

[Oerdin]

1. Not necissarially true.

The wireless industry has the habit of counting handsets sold instead of handsets used which doesn't factor in people who previously owned handsets but upgraded to newer one nor people who bought handsets but later discounted then. The later is very common in developing nations since people buy them then cannot continue to pay for them.

[lindisfarne]

2. 2 billion is about 37% of the entire world pop, including all kids. n/t

[A Simple Game]

3. And they are all talking to each other,

while driving on the same road I am on.

[arikara]

4. A good trick to get rid of cellphone (or any) tailgaters...

Use your window washer. It sprays back on their window and they back off. If they creep up on you again then just blast your washer again.

[SoCalDem]

5. or a sign that says...

Off the phone...ASSHOLE !

[KC21304]

7. Your sig line reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw

recently. Said " Who's going to clean up after the elephants ?" and had a picture of an obviously Republican elephant.

[A Simple Game]

6. Sounds good.

But I may like number 5 better.

[buzzsaw_23]

9. Cell phones alone

are expected to use 65,000 TONS of landfill space by the year 2005 according to a 2004 EPA report.

[A Simple Game]

10. Not to fear.

They are making them smaller every day.

I hope I never get important enough to have to have a cell phone again. Did a 5 year stint in IT and at times carried two pagers and a bag phone, hated it.

[buzzsaw_23]

11. Cell phones biggest legacy

in Central Africa is war and the extermination of endangered species.

"Black Gold" or Coltan is the vital mineral for cell phomes. 80% of the known reserves are in the DNC. The mining for this mineral has wreaked destruction and displacement upon the peoples of the region as well as habitat destruction of the Eastern Lowland Gorilla.

People must realize there is a direct link between the gadgets that make their lives "convenient" and the reality of the violence, turmoil and destruction that plague our world today.

[Tesha]

22. But Coltan isn't the only Tantalum ore...

Most tantalum is mined in Australia with some from Canada.

Tesha

[Straight Shooter]

21. That's not true ...

Half of them are in the grocery store line, where the rest of us get to hear their inane conversations.

[A Simple Game]

23. At least we are keeping them out of restaurants.

How did we survive 20 years ago? I recall a time when you could actually get away from it all, just go for a walk in the woods or down the street.

I just don't understand the need to be connected all the time, I like to get away, be by myself, to be able to think.

I suppose cell phones are nice. Wouldn't know, don't have one.

Leave it at home once in a while, or at least shut it off. You may enjoy it.

[survivor999]

8. Amazing...

[CountAllVotes]

13. welcome to the DU survivor999!!

:hi: and welcome to the DU!

And yeah it is amazing. I don't have one and I do not want one! I find them to be rude and annoying but that is JMO.

:kick:

[newyawker99]

27. Hi survivor999!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. And One Billion have never made a phone call

Consider that.

[TroubleMan]

14. And I will never be one of them

I hate cell phones....pet peave.

[The2ndWheel]

15. Same here, nt

[enlightenment]

17. Ditto that!

The death of civility in a plastic box.

And why are folks so eager to carry around the human equivalent of a tracking collar, anyway?

[TroubleMan]

18. Exactly. It's like carrying around a ball and chain.

Plus I'm worried about the radioactivity effects long term. It's not been proven either way whether their unhealthy or not, but that's another reason I don't want one.

The main reason is that it's just a ball and chain.

[buzzsaw_23]

19. Guns, Money and Cell Phones

The demand for cell phones and computer chips is helping fuel a bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The substance for sale wasn't cocaine or top-grade opium. It was an ore called Columbite-tantalite - coltan for short - one of the world's most sought-after materials. Refine coltan and you get a highly heat-resistant metal powder called tantalum. It sells for $100 a pound, and it's becoming increasingly vital to modern life. For the high-tech industry, tantalum is magic dust, a key component in everything from mobile phones made by Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson and computer chips from Intel (INTC) to Sony (SNE) stereos and VCRs.

Selling coltan is not illegal. Most of the worldwide tantalum supply - valued at as much as $6 billion a year - comes from legitimate mining operations in Australia, Canada and Brazil. But as demand for tantalum took off with the boom of high-tech products in recent years, a new, more sinister market began flourishing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There, warring rebel groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year. "There is a direct link between human rights abuses and the exploitation of resources in areas in the DRC occupied by Rwanda and Uganda," says Suliman Baldo, a senior researcher in the Africa division at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based nongovernmental organization that tracks human-rights abuses worldwide.

<snip>

The pillaging of the Congo's natural resources is exacting a devastating human and economic toll, says Leonard She Okitundu, the Congo's minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation. He told the United Nations Security Council in early May that "a consensus was clearly emerging in the council and in the international community on the links between the shameless looting of Congolese natural wealth and the massacres of the Congolese people." The fighting, he reported, has led to "assassinations of civilians, deportations, torture, rape and deliberate spreading of HIV/AIDS," as well as the displacement of millions of refugees.

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Africa/Articles/TheStandardColtan.asp

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Use of it is optional

Just as you can have a landline, but let people leave voicemail when you don't want to be bothered picking it up, you can leave the phone behind when you don't want to use it. Your argument is rather like saying you don't have a car because you find sitting in one is so restrictive, compared to being able to stand up. The solution is only to use your car when you need to, rather than living in it.

And there aren't any 'radioactive' effects. I presume you're thinking about the possible effects of the electromagnetic waves - but that's not 'radioactivity'. It's worth understanding what the effect is before you let it influence your decision.

[BiggJawn]

16. Figures.

I bought one 2 years ago. And if THIS Luddite has one, you can be assured they're on their way to obsolesence.

But....You will start seeing them in MUSEUMS before my Girlfriend buys one.

[ozone_man]

26. Never owned one.

But I think as emergency equipment for the car it is good. I'm not a luddite at all, I just feel they're unnecessary and degrade the quality of life.

[Maple]

20. Eventually every individual will have a 'SatPhone'

with one 'number' for life.

[ThomWV]

25. Why Don't Phone Numbers Have 10 Digits Then?

Or are there duplicate phone numbers?