Counting customers, subscribers and mobile phone numbers Available to Purchase

The purpose of this article is to identify policy issues arising from discrepancies between the various sources of numbers of customers for mobile networks.

This paper reviews and analyzes a range of statistics, and then draws out policy implications.

Survey data report much lower numbers of customers than operators, indicating delays in achieving MDGs and market distortions.

There is a lack of data on the reasons for ownership of multiple mobile SIM cards.

There is a need for more extensive surveys to identify reasons for ownership of multiple mobile SIM cards. The analysis can be incorporated into policy and regulatory decision making.

The paper takes an analytic approach, suggesting areas for further work.