Coverage and take up in the UK

Cellular mobile phones are often regarded as a fairly recent innovation, however, they have been freely available in the UK for over 20 years.

With the launch of the second generation (2G), consumer popularity rose steadily. Mobile phones became smaller and easier to handle. Network coverage improved greatly and it became more reliable.

During the period between December 1999 to December 2000 a total of 46,000 new users a day joined the UK mobile phone network. 5.1 million phones were bought in the UK during the 2000 Christmas period.

In its report, The Communications Report 2006, Key Points, Ofcom provides the following information for the period ending September 2005: over 65 million mobile phone subscriptions in the UK

As many UK households now have a mobile phone as have a landline phone; and for the first time, the proportion of households relying on mobile phones exclusively (10%) is the same as the proportion who only use landline phones . Total 2005 telecoms revenue reached £46.6 billion, of which £38.3 billion was retail revenue (i.e. revenue from end-users). Retail revenue rose by 5.5% compared to 2004.

Mobile industry revenues grew by 9.7% year on year to £13.1 billion, while traditional landline revenue fell by 7.5% to £10.1 billion.

With the rapid growth in mobile phone use and the introduction of advanced third generation (3G) services in 2003, the UK's five network operators will be dedicating their energies to building a reliable and sustainable network for the new technology.

At present there are about 47,000 base station sites in the UK. Two-thirds of these are installed on existing buildings or structures. Less than 2% are mounted on schools. Additional mobile phone base stations will need to be built to support 3G services. It is possible that the number of base station sites will rise to 50,000 by 2007.

UK Economy and GDP associated with the mobile phone industry:

The continual increase in demand for mobile communications has contributed significantly to the welfare of the UK economy. In 2003 the number of employees dependent on the mobile phone sector rose to around 197,000. The industry contributes £15 billion a year to government finances. The UK is one of the most advanced telecommunications markets in Europe and provides the lowest prices for mobile phone usage. With the speed of new technology within the telecoms industry, the swift introduction of the new third generation (3G) over the next few years will be key to maintaining the UK's competitive edge.

We are not the authors of this information, we thought it would be useful knowledge. This information can be found at:

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