Measuring Mobile Subscriber Growth

I have mentioned a couple of times in this blog of my interest in understanding how firms and other institutions use figures to communicate reality. My intention is not necessarily to identify faults but to ask myself why they chose a given method of rendering their data and not another. This idea was formed from my realization that when it comes to China and India, their large size is used to present data that tells one no meaningful or new information. As a result, some of the figures thrown out end up obscuring as opposed to illuminating any matter about the economy or businesses performance in those countries.

Looking at this article from the GSM Association's business briefing, I realized that the same broad errors are being repeated. To my mind, the title of the article and good portion of its contents present only one side of the correct picture. It correctly claims that the developing world today accounts for the four in every five connections for mobile telephony.  To which my polite question would be; So?

Consider that in accordance with the data presented in Table 1 of the piece, 84.7% of the world's population reside in the countries classified by the World bank Data as developing countries. It is not news therefore to state that mobile telephony growth there is growing. Indeed, it would be odd for acquisitions to be any other way. By virtue of the fact that a majority of the population reside in the developing countries, then growth there is expected to lead to the patterns that one sees. As a consequence, the explanatory variable should be population distribution across the developing and high income country divide. 

Growth in the high income countries is incomparable to that in the rest because they have nearly reached a point of saturation with a per capita mobile phone subscription of more than 1. So the reason 80% of new subscriptions occur in low and middle income countries is because it cannot be anywhere else. Noting China and India's demographic sizes also means that there raw numbers will drive those subscription rates when measured in units. Table 2 and 3 also show that population disproportionately determines explains subscription numbers.  

As an industry information article, I think that the GSM Association newsletter is very well done and I have used it to my own great advantage. However, its editors could consider the rendition of the data in ways that actually inform its readers.