Multiple, Global Increases in Mobile

“A cell phone in every hand” may soon be realized as Mediamark Research Inc. reveals that the number of U.S. households with three wireless phones increased by a whopping 95 percent from the spring of 2001 to the spring of 2002.

U.S. Households with Cell Phones
	2001	2002	Change
Homes with One Cell Phone	30.6%	32.0%	+4.0%
Homes with Two Cell Phones	17.8%	24.2%	+36.0%
Homes with Three Cell Phones	5.1%	9.9%	+95.0%
Source: Mediamark Research, Inc.

Joey Wolff, partner, Solomon-Wolff Associates, predicts that the average wireless household should have two or more handsets by July 2003. The firm found that among the 4,645 Internet users that were surveyed, 39.3 percent indicated that they owned two mobile phones, and 16.2 percent said they possessed three or more.

Number of Wireless Phones per Household
July 1998	1.3
January 1999	1.5
July 1999	1.5
January 2000	1.6
July 2000	1.6
January 2001	1.6
July 2001	1.7
January 2002	1.8
July 2002	1.9
Source: Solomon-Wolff Associates

Scarborough Research found a 29 percent growth rate for cell phone ownership over the past two years with 62 percent of American adults owning a cell phone.

The areas with the highest concentration of cell phone ownership are: Houston (74 percent); Atlanta (73 percent); Honolulu (70 percent); Miami (69 percent) and Dallas (69 percent). Ranking on the low end with the least percentage of wireless adults are: Roanoke, Va. (49 percent); Albany, N.Y. (49 percent); Wilkes-Barre, Penn. (46 percent); Buffalo, N.Y. (45 percent) and Charleston, W. Va. (39 percent).

The upward trend is not exclusive to the United States, as data from the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force indicates a global increase in mobile phone penetration.

Mobile Phones (per 1,000 people)
Location	1995	2000
Australia	124	447
Belgium	23	525
Brazil	8	136
Canada	88	285
China	3	66
Costa Rica	6	52
Czech Republic	5	424
Denmark	158	631
Dominican Republic	7	82
Egypt, Arab Republic	0	21
Finland	201	720
France	23	493
Germany	46	586
Greece	26	557
Guatemala	3	61
Haiti	0	3
Hong Kong, China	130	809
Hungary	26	302
Iceland	115	571
India	0	4
Ireland	44	658
Israel	79	702
Italy	68	737
Japan	93	526
Kuwait	70	249
Libya	0	7
Luxembourg	65	861
Malawi	0	5	Mexico	7	142	Morocco	1	83	Netherlands	35	670	New Zealand	101	563	Norway	225	751	Pakistan	0	2	Peru	3	48	Puerto Rico	77	237	Russian Federation	1	22	Saudi Arabia	1	64	Singapore	88	684	South Africa	14	190	Spain	24	609	Sweden	227	717	Switzerland	63	644	Thailand	23	50	Turkey	7	246	United Kingdom	98	727
United States	128	398
Vietnam	0	10	Zimbabwe	0	23
Source: United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force