The mobile sector continues to grow strongly amid surging demand for mobile data, AMTA CEO Chris Althaus told an Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) / Dept of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) Workshop in Canberra this week.

Presenting to the workshop attended by representatives from a wide range of Asia Pacific countries, Mr Althaus outlined the central role being played by mobile telecommunications throughout the world – particularly in the developing nations, many of which are in the Asia Pacific region.

“In reality much of the developed world has reached full market penetration and beyond with the World Bank estimating an average market penetration of 113% in 2010 based on 1.17 billion connections and a population of 1.04 billion, he said. “By contrast the developing nations recorded an average market penetration of just under 70% based on nearly 4 billion connections and a population of 5.78 billion people.

“The contrast is even greater when comparing annual growth rates of 4.4% in the developed world with over 19% in the developing countries. Not surprisingly the world rankings are dominated by the BRIC nations, which occupy four of the top six positions led by China and India.

The workshop covered a wide-ranging agenda with many Australian-based presentations together with papers presented by delegates from Japan, Singapore, Mongolia, Malaysia, Cook Islands, Bangladesh and Thailand.

For more information on the workshop contact Ms Amanda Tie, Cybersafety and Asia-Pacific Engagement Branch, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, at Amanda.tie@dbcde.gov.au