GENEVA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide were expected to reach 5 billion this year, compared with 4.6 billion in 2009, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said on Monday.
"Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services," ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said in Barcelona, Spain, where the Mobile World Congress, the world's largest conference and exhibition of mobile technology, opened on Monday.
The ITU attributed the subscriptions increase to advanced services and handsets in developed countries, and expanded mobile health services and mobile banking in developing countries.
Mobile broadband subscriptions, which topped 600 million in 2009, are projected to exceed 1 billion around the world in 2010.
The Geneva-based ITU was founded in 1865 and has 191 member states.
