… in Hungary, that is, according to TeleGeography: (via Om Malik)
The number of active users rose by 583,000, boosting the country total to 9.32 million. The NHH said mobile penetration reached 92.4% by the end of December 2005, up from 86.4% a year earlier and 90.7% in November. The largest single monthly rise took place in the pre-Christmas period and 178,000 new SIM cards were registered in December alone.
It’s a classic case of a formerly under-developed country skipping a generation in technology. When I grew up (in Hungary), getting a landline phone took 10–15 years, sometimes a lifetime. As surreal as it sounds, it was everyday reality in the “Shortage Economy”. Just like buying a car, where you’d prepay for a Russian-made Lada, and be able to pick it up in 5–6 years. Considering the quality/ life expectancy of these cars, well-off people typically prepaid for a second car before the first one was delivered…
In the late 80’s / early 90’s Hungary saw an influx of foreign capital and it was quite common for international corporations to have to build out the local communication infrastructure to be able to operate their new plant.
As is often the case, it’s easier to leapfrog to the next generation in technology, then fixing up the old one; nowadays landline use is on the decline (who needs a phone anyway?), just like in the US, and as the numbers show, mobile phone penetration far exceeds the US level.
Tags: mobile phones, cellular, mobile penetration, infrastructure, Hungary
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