PHL is world's 4th fastest growing mobile data user — Ericsson

Smart phones made up some 40 percent of all phones sold globally in the third quarter of 2012, according to Ericsson's latest Mobility Report.

 

The mobile tech company said that mobile subscriptions are expected to hit 6.6 billion by the end of 2012, and to top 9.3 billion by 2018 —excluding machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions.

 

In terms of new subscribers in the third quarter, the Philippines was the fourth largest contributor worldwide at 5 million new subscriptions, after Brazil (9 million) and Indonesia (7 million). But China topped the list with 40 million new subscriptions, accounting for 35 percent of the world total.

 

Worldwide mobile penetration hit 91 percent in the first three quarters of the year, with total mobile subscriptions up to 6.4 billion in the same period —a growth of 9 percent year-on-year, or 2 percent quarter-on-quarter.

 

Data traffic skyrocketed 100 percent in Q3 2012 over the same period the previous year. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for mobile data is expected to reach 50 percent in the next five years, spurred by increased video consumption.

 

Online video consumption was found to be the key driver of rising mobile traffic volumes, accounting for 25 percent of all smartphone traffic and 40 percent of all tablet traffic.

 

“Expectations of mobile-network quality have been elevated by the availability of smartphones and tablets that have changed the way we use the internet,” said Douglas Gilstrap, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy at Ericsson.

 

“Mobility is becoming an increasingly significant part of our daily lives. We always have devices within arm’s reach, allowing us instant access to information, entertainment and social interaction,” he added.

 

This year, Ericsson provided LTE coverage for some 455 million people globally as of June, and expects more than half the world’s population to be covered within five years. “There were an additional 13 million LTE subscriptions in Q3 2012, and numbers are predicted to reach 1.6 billion by 2018,” the company said in a press statement.

 

Thus, Ericsson revealed that “LTE is currently being deployed and built out in all regions, and total subscriptions will increase from around 55 million at the end of 2012 to an estimated 1.6 billion in 2018. WCDMA/HSPA networks currently provide coverage to more than half the world’s population and continue to grow faster than LTE in terms of absolute numbers, adding 65 million subscriptions in Q3 2012 compared with 13 million for LTE. — TJD, GMA News