Ericsson
has released its latest report on global mobile traffic, showing data traffic
in the third quarter was twice the level of a year earlier. This is driven by
the growing number of smartphones, which accounted for approximately 40 percent
of all phones sold.
Ericsson predicts
data traffic will grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of around 50 percent
between 2012 and 2018, driven mainly by video. The company's research shows
that online video is the biggest contributor to mobile traffic volumes,
constituting 25 percent of total smartphone traffic and 40 percent of tablet
traffic.
Total mobile
subscriptions are expected to reach 6.6 billion by the end of 2012 and 9.3
billion by the end of 2018, excluding any contribution from M2M. In Q3, China
alone accounted for about 35 percent of net additions, adding about 40 million
lines. Brazil (9 million), Indonesia (7 million), and the Philippines (5
million) followed in terms of net additions.
Overall,
global mobile penetration reached 91 percent in Q3 2012, and mobile
subscriptions now total around 6.4 billion. Mobile subscriptions grew by around
9 percent year-on-year and 2 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q3.
Ericsson also
charted the expected growth in LTE. From about 455 million people covered by
LTE networks at mid-2012, the figure is expected to grow to half the world's
population within five years. LTE subscribers are forecast to grow from around
55 million at the end of 2012 to an estimated 1.6 billion in 2018. This makes
LTE the fastest-developing system in the history of mobile communications in
terms of build-out and uptake, Ericsson said.
Telecompaper.com