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Portio reports that 2005 was another year of healthy growth for the mobile industry and and the global rise of this popular technology continued unabated.

The total number of mobile subscribers worldwide at the end of 2005 grew to 2.129 billion, an increase of 384 million subscribers from the start of the year. This figure is expected to increase to approximately 3.964 billion by the end of 2011. In the same time frame, the population of the world is likely to increase from approximately 6.5 billion to approximately 7 billion, meaning that worldwide mobile phone penetration should pass the 50% mark some time around the end of 2009.

A substantial part of this growth in subscribers will be witnessed in the Asia Pacific region, with vast growth opportunities in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. By 2011, we estimate that the Asia Pacific region will account for approximately 50% of the worlds entire mobile subscriber base, with a staggering 1.067 billion subscribers between China and India, the worlds two biggest mobile markets.

Between the start of 2006 and the end of 2011, while the Asia Pacific region adds a little over 1 billion subscribers to the world total, Africa is likely to see net adds of 265 million, closely followed by Latin America adding 205 million to the global total.

By contrast, growth will be slower in more mature markets, with North America adding 75 million to the world total and Western and Northern Europe adding just 30 million to that figure. Central, Eastern and Southern Europe should see better growth, adding a further 79 million mobile subscribers as the big Russian and Turkish markets reach saturation, and finally the Middle East is also expected to see growth of an additional 79 million subscribers, largely in Iran and Iraq