(Manila Standard via NewsEdge) Mobile phone penetration rate in the Philippines, or the ratio of cellular phone subscribers to the total population, may have hit 50% in 2006.
While the regulator National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) has yet to release its official report, Globe Telecom president and chief executive Gerry Ablaza said the number of SIMs in use reached 49 million as of end of 2006.
But industry players said the number of SIM could not represent the same number of subscribers, as some individuals own more than one SIM belonging to different networks.
Data show that the two largest mobile phone service providers had a total of more than 40 million subscribers as of December 2006.
Smart Communications said its subscriber base expanded to cover 25 million as of December 2006. These included 17.6 million subscribers of 'Smart Buddy,' 'Smart Gold' and 'Smart Infinity' and 7.4 million users of the 'Talk N Text' brand of subsidiary Pilipino Telephone Corp.
Globe Telecom said it had 15.7 million subscribers as of end 2006, of which 95% was prepaid subscribers, accounting for about 77 % of revenues while the remaining 5% were post-paid users contributing 20% to 23% of income.
Sun Cellular, the telecom provider of the Gokongwei Group, has yet to disclose its own figures, but its subscriber base was earlier estimated between 1 million to 2 million.
The 50% penetration rate was based on the estimated 43 million mobile phone subscribers, out of the country's 86 million population last year.
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