Ericsson has released its second State of Markets and Data Traffic Report – focused on the connected society, which says that by 2017, 85% of the world's population will be covered by third generation networks. In 2017, 50% of the world's population will be covered by fourth generation networks. We estimate that in 2017 the number of smartphone users will reach 3 billion. In the first quarter of 2012, the number of mobile connections reached 6.2 billion and increased by 170 million new mobile connections during the quarter. By the end of 2017, the volume of global data traffic will increase 15 times. For many people in different parts of the world, the mobile phone will be the only means of accessing the Internet. According to Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC ) second State of the Markets and Data Traffic Report - focused on the connected society, 85% of the world's population will gain access to the Internet through third-generation networks by 2017, and the number of mobile connections will reach nearly nine billion, compared to six billion at the end of 2011. The above-mentioned growth is also due to the connection used for communication between devices.
Meanwhile, mobile high-speed connection numbers are estimated to reach five billion in 2017, up from one billion at the end of 2011.
Douglas Gilstrap, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Ericsson, says: "These days, people consider Internet access an essential part of every device. This access has resulted in a growing demand for mobile high-speed connectivity and data traffic growth. Mobile operators are aware of this business opportunity and are trying to facilitate said growth and ensure a good user experience through high-capacity networks with high data transfer rates. Currently, around 75% of HSPA networks worldwide upgraded to peak speeds of 7.2 Mbps or faster, and 40% of networks upgraded to 21 Mbps.” In its report, Ericsson also predicts that by 2017, half of the world's population will be covered by fourth generation/LTE networks. The number of smartphone users will reach approximately three billion in 2017, compared to 700 million in 2011.
The total volume of mobile data traffic will continue to grow - between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, the volume of data traffic doubled, mainly due to video viewing. Smartphones are and will continue to be a key driver of data traffic.
Between 2011 and 2017, the volume of mobile data traffic will increase 15 times. The data published in the report also point to differences between countries and regions. In terms of growth in the number of mobile Internet connections, the country with the largest number of connections in the first quarter of 2012 was China - 39 million, followed by India with 25 million. The Asia-Pacific region generated a total of 93 million connections, followed by Africa with 30 million.
The main ongoing trend revealed by the report is the fact that everything is going mobile. Behind this development is mainly the growing demand of citizens for connection anytime and anywhere and the use of video, cloud services and the Internet, but also connection for mutual communication between devices.
Since the first days of mobile high-speed connection operation, Ericsson has been measuring a large number of actively operating networks in all regions of the world.
The aim of this report is to share analysis based on these measurements, internal forecasts and other relevant studies to provide insights into the current evolution of data traffic and markets. We will publish information on the state of markets and data traffic as well as our analysis regularly.
If you want to get more information, or to download the complete report, visit the site: www.ericsson.com/traffic-market-report