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.
