e rate of over 225 million per year over 2000-03, as shown in the graph below, it accelerated to over 320 million per year in 2004-05 as mobile subscribers jumped by some 300 million. 67 Absolute global spend on infrastructure over 2000-03 continued to climb as shown on the left side of the figure, while growth in capex oscillated with economic conditions at around 4% to 5% per annum, as shown in the graph on the right. INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030: TELECOM, LAND TRANSPORT, WATER AND ELECTRICITY - ISBN 92-64-02398-4 © OECD 2006 2. TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030 Figure 2.18. Growth of subscribers Growth of subscribers worldwide Worldwide growth rates as % growth over 1991-2003 fixed and mobile against infrastructure previous year for fixed and mobile subscribers investment (ITU) - the trend is for infrastructure and capex investments, 1992-2003. The trend spend to rise - but not nearly as fast is for mobile growth to slow as the initial as the number of new users, phase, of filling capacity in the OECD area, especially in mobile ends as those markets become saturated, while fixed wireline nears saturation. Global capex invested in infrastructure Mobile subscriber growth per year over previous year Growth in global capex invested Fixed wireline subscribers in infrastructure over previous year Mobile subscribers Fixed growth Million of subscribers USD billions* % rate of growth 1 400 1 200 1 000 * Current prices and exchange rate. Source: SCF Associates, derived from ITU Source: ITU world telecommunications indicators world telecommunications indicators database 2002. database 2002. However, since 1992, the capex per new subscriber added to the networks, both fixed and global, has fallen substantially, by over 80% by 2000, as shown in the figure below. It is only just starting to rise again, under the influence of the new generation of mobile networks, the 3G UMTS, which have (far) higher costs than 2G, and also rollout of HFC broadband networks, although their impact on spend is limited by the numbers taking these new s