Ericsson calculates that the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide grew approximately 7 percent year-on-year during Q1 2014, with the most new additions coming in APAC nations. The number of mobile broadband subscriptions grew even faster over this period – at a rate of 35 percent year-on-year, reaching 2.3 billion.
According to Ericsson's new published Mobility Report, while the number of smartphones entering the market continues to soar and the volume of mobile/cellular data traffic was up 65% YoY, the adoption rate for LTE continues to vary geographically. Western Europe continues to see a lower LTE adoption rate than other mature markets.
Some highlights from the 32-page report:
- 1.9 billion smartphone subscriptions in 2013
- Ericsson is predicting a 10x growth in mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019
- There was 20% world LTE population coverage in 2013
- In terms of net additions for mobile subscriptions, the countries with the most new adds are in India, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.
- By the end of 2019, Ericsson is forecasting 9.2 billion mobile subscriptions, and 80% of which include mobile broadband.
- 65 percent of all phones sold in Q1 2014 were smartphones. Compared to today, a smartphone user in 2019 is expected to consume almost four times the amount of mobile data per month. This contributes to the 10-fold growth prediction in mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019.
- Slower LTE uptake in Europe. By the end of 2019, Ericsson expects LTE will make up around 50 percent of the subscriptions base in Western Europe. The company notes that data services were rolled out early in this region, initially accessed via dongle or mobile PC. Ericsson says the drive for LTE has not yet been as strong in the region as in North America, due to factors such as having many well-developed 3G networks.
The full report is posted online.
http://hugin.info/1061/R/1790097/615436.pdf
http://www.ericsson.com/news/1790097
- Highlights from Ericsson's 2013 Mobility Report: http://www.convergedigest.com/2013/06/ericsson-mobile-traffic-doubled-from-q1.html
- Highlights from Ericsson's 2012 Mobility Report:
http://www.convergedigest.com/2012/11/ericsson-mobile-data-to-grow-12x-by-2018.html
