United Nations predicts strong mobile demand

ME

Uptake in emerging markets of "a basic necessity" will help industry through the recession.

The United Nations also says European and American consumers will hang on to their mobiles at all costs, preferring instead to drop landlines as a way to save money.

Reuters quotes the Confronting the Crisis report, issued yesterday by UN body the International Telecommunication Union, as saying: "Once a user gets a mobile phone, it is difficult to give up, and in many countries mobile phones have become a necessity."

The ITU goes on to say that uptake of mobile phones in developing markets such as China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh will see the technology leapfrog other ways of accessing the internet in those countries.

However, the report cautions that the reduced availability of credit could see investment in infrastructure slow in developed markets.