Over 80% of Nigeria's Facebook users access via mobile

"According to Socialbakers, the countries with the highest Facebook mobile penetration are:
Nigeria: 81.2 percent
Brunei: 80.8 percent
South Africa: 80.5 percent
Malawi: 78.3 percent
Papua New Guinea: 78.3 percent
Namibia: 76.7 percent
Botswana: 76.4 percent
Zambia: 73.9 percent
Japan: 72.1 percent
Singapore: 71.8 percent"
Source:  AllFacebook, 8th May 2012
Note - this means the number who access via mobile as a percent of the total users - but the people accessing via mobile may also access on a desktop device.

Smartphones account for 44% of all handsets in UAE, 55% in Saudi Arabia and 42% in Jordan

"Arab Advisors new surveys reveal that Smartphones constitute 43.7% of total cellular handsets in the UAE, 54.6% of total handsets in Saudi and 41.6% in Jordan.
A new Arab Advisors Group’s survey of cellular users in the UAE reveals insightful details on the smartphones adoption and usage patterns in the UAE. The survey also probed general cellular usage habits, smartphones awareness in addition to tablets availability among cellular users in the UAE. This survey comes on the heals of a similar survey in Jordan. Full results of a similar Saudi survey will be out in October 2011.
The Arab Advisors Group concluded a ground breaking survey of cellular users in the UAE probing smartphones adoption and usage. The survey revealed that Blackberry leads with 51% share of smartphones operating systems (calculated based on handsets’ brands). iOS (iPhone) ranked second while Symbian came in third. Smartphone users prefer the English language for their applications. Over 300 delegates will discuss and deliberate the ongoing trends in the regional smartphone ecosystem at Arab Advisors’ Smart Handheld Summit which will be held on December 5 & 6, 2011 in Dubai. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is the Strategic Summit Partner. Qualcomm is sponsoring the summit which is also supported byAppsArabia, Microsoft, nPario, Teletimes, DVV, ITP CommsMea, MediaME and Telecom Watch."

Source:  Press release from the Arab Advisors Group, 19th October 2011

3G penetration by market, Q2 2011

Click to enlarge

Source:  Data from Informa & WCIS+, taken from Mary Meeker's Internet Trends presentation 2011, KPCB, October 2011

18% of internet users access solely through a mobile connection

"Mobile is increasingly the primary platform for internet access, according to today’s Global Consumer Survey (GCS) report from MEF, the global community for mobile content and commerce.
Based on research conducted among over 8,000 respondents in nine countries across five continents, the MEF GCS found that 72% access the mobile internet on a daily basis with 18% no longer using fixed line internet access whatsoever. In each individual market, the number of consumers accessing the mobile internet daily is higher than the number accessing fixed-line internet."

Source:  Research by the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)'s Global Consumer Survey, reported in a press release, 12th October 2011

See an extract here

The markets surveyed were:  Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, UK & US

Africa accounted for 12% of all net new mobile subscribers in Q1 2010

"Africa accounted for 12 percent of global mobile net additions in 1Q 2010, adding 20.1 million new subscribers to the world population of mobile users, and giving Africa a total of 480.2 million subscribers. This is a rather neat 10.0 percent of the some 4.82 billion mobile subscribers estimated to exist at the end of March 2010.
By comparison the Middle East accounted for 5 percent of global mobile net additions, clocking up some 8.1 million in the first quarter. Together Africa & the Middle East therefore accounted for 17 percent of global net additions.
According to research by The Mobile World, 1Q 2010 saw net additions of 168 million, taking the total to 4.82 billion. China and India remain the world's largest, and accounted for almost 28 percent of the global total at the end of 1Q 2010, but their contribution to the net quarterly gain in connections was double this at 56 percent. The USA accounts for 3 percent of net additions: the same percentage as Brazil and Russia combined.
With the world population at around 6.8 billion, the global mobile penetration rate stood at just under 71 percent at the end of Q1 2010. Africa, by comparison, had a mobile penetration of 47 percent, whilst the Middle East hit 86 percent."
Source:  Worldwide Mobile Market Growth, Africa and Middle East Telecom Week, July 2010

Digital music and video distributor The Orchard reaches more than 1.2 billion mobile customers across Asia

"Today, The Orchard, a global leader in music and video distribution and comprehensive digital strategy, announced that the company is now reaching more than 1.2 billion mobile customers across Asia through distribution partnerships with top mobile operators and licensors in China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Middle East.
In Japan, The Orchard has direct agreements with Music.JP and Music Airport, as well as a partnership with the largest record label Avex, which brings Orchard content to Label Mobile, a mobile-content provider owned by leading Japan record labels. In The Middle East, The Orchard has an agreement with Viva, which provides The Orchard access to top mobile operators like Orange, Vodafone, and Mobinil. In Korea, a deal with NeoWizBugs supplies content to SK Telecom and third-party mobile music sites including Bugs, Melon and Dosirak. A deal with ZTEMT China brings The Orchard's content to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom subscribers. Finally, through its partner label Saregama, the Orchard also reaches the largest mobile service providers in India, such as Vodafone, Air Tel, Reliance, and BSNL. In total, The Orchard taps over 1.2 billion mobile users in the Asian mobile market."
Source: Press release from The Orchard, 26th May 2010

68 Percent of Saudi girls drop their last name on Facebook

"Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat - Are you on Facebook under your real name? This is the question that continues to haunt a large number of Saudi Arabian women, despite the fact that internet social networking sites rely primarily on factual personal information. However a recent study carried out in Saudi Arabia shows that 68 percent of Saudi girls prefer to withhold their family name due to the sensitivity of this information, in comparison to just 32 percent of girls who appear on Facebook under their own full names. The study revealed that 16 percent of girls polled were members of Facebook under aliases or false identities. As for the Saudi Arabian boys who use Facebook, the study showed that 60 percent of those questioned were members of Facebook under their own full name, with just 4 percent appearing under an alias or a false name."
Source: Asharq Alawsat, 19th January 2010