Asia mobile subscribers hit 1.5b in 2012

The number of individual mobile subscribers in the Asia Pacific region was 1.5 billion by the end of 2012, outpacing the rest of the world in the last decade, a recent report has shown.

The region is expected to be home to 1.9 billion mobile subscribers by 2017, accounting for almost half of the estimated global total of 3.9 billion, according to the GSM Association, a global industry alliance of mobile operators and related companies.

"Mobile is already having a profound impact across all Asia-Pacific countries, with spectacular growth in service penetration, driven by investment in infrastructure and continued innovation in devices and services," said Anne Bouverot, the GSMA's director-general.