Cellular penetration rate to hit 50%

BY year's end, one in every two Malaysians will own a mobile phone, said the research unit of Avenue Securities in its latest report on the telecommunications sector. 

Major growth catalysts such as aggressive “headline grabbing” promotions by mobile players, falling handset prices, and improved penetration in new target markets outside the Klang Valley would push cellular penetration to hit 50% by end-2004 from 44% at the end of last year. This represented an 18% growth in terms of subscriber numbers to 13.11 million from last year's 11.1 million, it said.