It’s been a couple of years since we reviewed the state of the 2G and 3G mobile markets to see how network closures were coming along.
There has been plenty of activity since then, and 2025 is shaping up to be a busy year for shutdowns.
At the end of 2024, the global mobile subscription total stood at 8.8 billion, according to figures from our GlobalComms Database. This is up from 8.7 billion a year earlier and 8.5 billion at end-2022.
Ten years ago, the total was closer to 7.0 billion; at the end of 2004, it was just 1.7 billion.
Back in early 2019, after months of speculation linking Telefonica to a sale of its Central American operations, the Spanish telecom giant agreed to offload all five of its units in the region.
By the end of 2019, the Madrid-based group had unveiled a five-point turnaround strategy to overhaul its business.
Fiber broadband is now by far the most common means of fixed broadband connectivity worldwide, although the picture varies from region to region.
Vietnamese military-run telecom operator Viettel reports impressive uptake figures since launching its 5G mobile network in mid-October 2024. Within two weeks, the firm attracted 3 million 5G users, reaching 4 million in late December.
While 5G has been available in many Asian markets for some time, users in Vietnam were forced to wait for their first taste of the new technology.
Earlier this year, China Mobile hit one billion mobile subscriptions.
In a country of more than 1.4 billion people, this may not seem like a remarkable milestone. However, the next largest national cellco, Reliance Jio in India, has less than half of this number—around 476 million subscriptions as of mid-2024.
Let’s take a closer look at China Mobile and the other giant operators.
For our next episode of TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we look to the sky.
Our guest is Sal Salamone, Managing Editor of Network Computing magazine. Sal joined me to discuss the emerging market for direct-to-device satellite communications.
TeleGeography Explains the Internet is back from summer break.
We return a little older, a little wiser, and you can bet that we've done the summer reading. To that end, we're starting this season with a classic TeleGeography Explains deep dive.
The topic? U.S. telecom law!
Telecom is a regulated industry, and U.S. law holds complexities that impact what happens across the larger ecosystem. I have a lot to learn about telecom policy, so thankfully I'm joined in this explainer by Jeff Long, an attorney in private practice with broad experience in both the data center and telecom industry.
Verizon’s shock agreement to acquire ISP giant Frontier Communications in a $20 billion all-cash deal looks set to herald a new era of fixed-mobile convergence in the U.S. telecom market.
The takeover—which is expected to close in 18 months, subject to regulatory approval—follows a series of eye-catching fiber-related announcements involving chief rivals AT&T Communications and T-Mobile US.
Today, we take a look at the respective fiber strategies of the “Big Three” U.S. mobile operators.
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