By the end of 2013, there will be more than three times as many mobile broadband connections as there are conventional fixed broadband subscriptions, according to the International Telecommunications Union’s “State of Broadband Report.”
That makes mobile broadband the fastest growing technology in human history, according to the ITU.
Mobile broadband subscriptions, which give users access to the Internet from their smartphones, tablets and Wi-Fi-connected laptops, are growing at a rate of 30 percent per year, the ITU says.
Current ITU development goals include a target of entry-level broadband services, available at less than 5 percent of average monthly income, in developing countries by 2015.
By the end of 2013, the ITU predicts there will be 2.1 billion mobile broadband subscriptions in use, equivalent to one third of the total number of mobile cellular subscriptions in service globally. In 2011, mobile broadband was used by 20 percent of mobile customers.
Morgan Stanley estimates that the number of unique smart phone users is around 1.5 billion in 2013, with smartphone subscriptions estimated to exceed four billion by 2018. Mobile broadband is projected to reach seven billion subscriptions in 2018.
By the end of 2013, the number of broadband subscriptions in the developing parts of the world will exceed the number of broadband subscriptions in the developed regions of the planet for the first time, the ITU also notes.
Licensed spectrum has underpinned the growth of the mobile industry and remains essential, unlicensed spectrum (Wi-Fi, primarily) has become an important part of the way people get access to the Internet.
Other forms of spectrum sharing also are starting to get attention.
On the fixed network front, prices also have been dropping, globally. Over the past five years, fixed broadband prices as a share of gross national income per capita have dropped by 82 percent, the ITU says.
Edited by
Alisen Downey 
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