By this weekend, GSM mobile phones will be used by more than two billion people worldwide - almost twice as many as use the Internet.

The second billion has taken just two and a half years to achieve - every minute, the GSM community welcomes 1,000 new users.

The phenomenal growth of GSM, which is in use in 213 countries and territories, is being driven by soaring demand in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Of the second billion GSM connections, 82% are in the developing world.

China is the world's largest GSM market followed by Russia, India and the U.S..

Five of the top 10 fastest growing GSM markets are in Asia

GSM users now send one trillion text messages each year

In China, sales of music via mobile phones outstrip sales of music CDs