as well. Mobile Carriers Worldwide In this chapter: Introduction The Largest Mobile Carriers Worldwide Asian Market Latin America Sub-Saharan Africa Europe Summary Mobile Carriers Worldwide INTRODUCTION During the past decade, large swaths of the population in Africa, Asia, and Latin America acquired mobile services for the first time. Mobile devices are often the first telephones that these populations have had because landline phone services were not widely available. Low rates and wide availability of mobile services have helped these populations stay in touch with family members who have moved to distant cities and other countries to increase their economic opportunities. As more people acquire mobile services for voice, carriers are exploring ways to increase revenue by offering new services such as mobile payment services. In Kenya, small-business owners use mobile handsets to make and collect payments as well as receive wages. Subscribers can additionally receive remittances from distant relatives on their handsets. These remittances are often the capital used to start these small businesses. There are challenges as well as opportunities for carriers that operate in high- growth countries such as India and Kenya that have low per-minute rates for cellular service and populations with low wages and high poverty rates. The combination of low prices and low Minutes of Use (MoU) makes it difficult to operate profitably. Car- riers recognize the need to lower their operating costs, increase the volume of custom- ers to make up for the low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), and offer affordable handsets to customers. Another obstacle for carriers that operate in developing countries is the competi- tion of other mobile providers in many of these areas. In contrast to Europe, where generally there are only four carriers in each country, India and Indonesia both have nine or more mobile providers. This is another factor along with poverty that drives down mobile prices. Governments often encourage large numbers of p