A report by Business Monitor International (BMI) has said that Saudi mobile customer base grew by just over 20% in 2009, compared to 26.7% in 2008, Saudi Gazette has reported. The growth was attributed to the launch of commercial operations by Zain in late 2008. The report estimates that over 13% of Saudi mobile telephony customers had 3G handsets at the end of 2009. By the end of 2014, BMI forecasts the proportion of 3G users to rise to almost 40%.