Overall data traffic is expected to grow 12-fold by the end of 2018, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report.
The report predicts around 60 per cent of the world’s population will have access to long term evolution (LTE) services by 2018, while LTE subscriptions will have exceeded one billion by 2017.
Douglas Gilstrap, Ericsson’s senior vice president and head of strategy, said the growth will be “driven by more capable devices and demand for data-intensive services such as video”.
Video consumption is on average 2.6GB per subscription per month on some networks. Consumers spend more time on social networking with an average of up to 85 minutes per day.
The Mobility Report addresses the concept of broadening the definition of coverage from voice to include how well users are able to access their mobile apps, or “app coverage”, and presents a new framework explaining the effects of varying network performance in a way that is relevant to the user.
The report also studies the relationship between network performance and consumer loyalty. Network performance is the principal driver of subscriber loyalty to mobile operators, followed by value for money.
Other sections of the report explain the effects of smartphone signaling on data traffic, data roaming and identifying opportunities for operators to generate new revenue streams.
