GSMA Intelligence is today publishing the sixth in our country overview series, following Sri Lanka, Peru, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Philippines, in which we take a deep dive into the mobile market of Argentina and a closer look at the innovation ecosystem taking shape there.

Norway-based Telenor is the world's eighth-largest mobile group in terms of connections with an operator footprint spread across the Nordics, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. According to GSMA Intelligence data, total mobile connections at the Group surpassed the 100 million mark for the first time in third-quarter 2008.

Despite two thirds of the global population being mobile subscribers, the true growth story ahead will be in mobile internet subscribers, according to this latest infographic from GSMA Intelligence. Between 2019 and 2025, mobile internet subscribers will increase by more than 30%. New 4G networks, increased smartphone adoption and the growing availability of locally relevant content in emerging markets will help fuel growth in mobile internet subscribers.

Digital inclusion – defined here as the expansion of global connectivity and mobile internet adoption – can deliver broad economic and social benefits by bringing communications services to previously unconnected populations. This in turn can help reduce poverty, improve infrastructure and services, and further increase internet access and usage. Unconnected and underserved communities risk falling further behind, widening the digital divide, if the barriers to digital inclusion remain unaddressed.

GSMA Intelligence has expanded its coverage of financial metrics, with projections of revenues and ARPU to 2020. Over one-third of operators worldwide consistently report these metrics, across just over half the world’s countries. GSMA Intelligence has modelled values for the remainder that do not report ARPU or revenues to obtain a complete picture of the financial performance of mobile operators globally. GSMA Intelligence clients can access the full set of financial metrics here:

The mobile industry has made good progress in ensuring LTE spectrum harmonisation on a regional basis. However, it has only recently started tackling the challenge of developing an LTE smartphone that works worldwide. Such a device would improve economies of scale for both device manufacturers and operators, while nurturing global LTE roaming and triggering the faster adoption of LTE services.

In the Mobile for Development (M4D) Impact country overview series, we analyse the evolution and outlook of national mobile markets in the developing world. Each report covers a single country, combining data analysis with on-the-ground interviews to understand how the market has developed and what the future holds.

Mobile social networking is becoming a key driver of mobile data revenue in several fast-growing - but low ARPU - markets in Asia-Pacific, according to new GSMA Intelligence research.

Mobile operators in the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are accounting for a rapidly growing share of global mobile revenue, and are on track to overtake the US in market size (revenue) by 2012.

To gain a better understanding of the policies and interventions needed to accelerate connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, this study maps mobile coverage and adoption in seven African countries at the highest possible resolution and simulates the effects of different policies on both the location of infrastructure and demand for mobile and internet services.

From the shape and size of markets to trends in consumer behaviour, we aim to provide food for thought through informative visuals designed to bring some colour and clarity to complex issues facing the industry. In this edition, we look at the meteoric rise of 4G in India against a financial backdrop that raises questions over the sustainability of the sector.

Consumers outside of the main urban centres in India will quickly account for the majority of 3G connections following the rollout of the first private 3G networks next year, according to new GSMA Intelligence research. But the study warns that the high cost of acquiring spectrum and rolling out the new networks into rural areas means that return-on-investment is not likely to happen until operators have tapped the mid-term market potential, which is estimated to take at least three years.

The Johannesburg-based Pan-African and Middle Eastern mobile group MTN has been the subject of feverish M&A speculation in the media over the last few weeks. India's Bharti has already held talks and this week another Indian mobile group, Reliance, also confirmed it has entered negotiations.

Building on the foundation of the Digital Societies series, this report marks the inaugural edition of the Digital Nations series. It explores the aspiration of governments in Asia Pacific to leverage digital technologies as a means to achieve sustainable, resilient and inclusive economic growth, based on the development of five key components of a digital nation: infrastructure, innovation, data governance, security and people.