US and China spearhead mobile boom

NEWS Sprint PCS in the US was the world's fastest growing mobile operator in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest league table figures. It grew its subscriber base 17 per cent over the three month period, well ahead of international and domestic rivals. Second in the latest list, from the EMC World Cellular Investors Datasheet, was China Unicom - another user of CDMA as opposed to GSM technology - which grew 8.8 per cent. The figures measure proportionate ownership in cellular operators of all types. The world's largest operator, in pure subscriber terms, remains China Mobile, with 144 million. Vodafone has 114 million, a reflection of the fact that some of its businesses around the world aren't wholly owned. The biggest faller in the analyst's league table is BT Group. It long decided to exit the cellular business, by spinning off its European mobile arms collectively as mmO2, and selling other stakes. It is left with two foreign investments - in LG Telecom in South Korea and in StarHub in Singapore.