India and China account for 35% of 4.1 billion active mobile services users worldwide, says a study by telecom equipment maker Ericsson.
"Global mobile penetration reached 85% in Q4 (last quarter) 2011 and mobile subscriptions now total around 6 billion. "However, the actual number of subscribers is about 4.1 billion, since many subscribers have several subscriptions," according to Ericsson Traffic and Market Data Report.

It added that this is equal to around 60% of the world's population.

The report said India and China accounted for approximately 35% of the estimated 180 million net additions during last quarter of 2011.

The mobile services remained dominated by GSM services with 75% market share. CDMA and HSPA (3G) accounted for 15% market share, it added.

Ericsson study found that mobile subscriptions have grown around 13% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter.

Globally, mobile broadband subscriptions have grown around 60% year-on-year and have reached close to 1 billion mark, it said.

According to the study, there is a strong momentum for smartphone uptake in all regions with approximately 30% of all handsets sold in 2011 were smartphones, compared to around 20% for the full year 2010.

"However, only around 10% of the worldwide installed base of subscriptions use smartphones. This means that there is considerable room for further uptake," the report said.