Tracking the world’s mobile internet subscribers - Half of the world's population subscribed to mobile internet services by 2020

GSMA Intelligence is today adding a major new data set — the ability to track the number of unique subscribers to mobile internet services.

This data provides insight into the pace at which mobile subscribers worldwide are migrating from traditional mobile services such as voice and SMS across to mobile data services, underlining how mobile is now the primary method of getting online for many, especially in the developing world.

The report we are publishing today — Mobile internet subscriber forecasts and assumptions — highlights our initial global findings and outlines our definitions, methodology and assumptions in creating this new data set.

According to the new figures, there were 2.2 billion subscribers to the mobile internet in 2013, representing approximately 30% of the global population. It is forecast that an additional 1.6 billion citizens worldwide will become mobile internet subscribers by 2020, bringing the total number to 3.8 billion, equivalent to half of the world’s expected population in 2020.