Ericsson has revealed mobile broadband data traffic nearly tripled in the year up to the end of June, growing 10 times faster than voice services in the same period. According to the World number-one equipment vendor's statistics, global measured mobile data traffic stands at nearly 225,000 terabytes per month as of the second quarter of 2010.
Ericsson also revealed mobile data traffic continues to grow exponentially even after the historic cross over point in December 2009 when data traffic first exceeded voice traffic; although mobile broadband-only subscriptions currently only account for 10% of total mobile network users, but a rapidly increasing majority of the traffic.
Ericsson also stated that while there are over five billion mobile subscriptions worldwide it forecasts this will leap to 50 billion connected devices by 2020.
* Explosion in Demand Drives Network Growth: Ericsson stated that the figures prove the growth and benefits of mobile broadband are undeniable, saying the business model for mobile broadband is becoming one of increasing profitability and competitive differentiation through superior quality of service. Earlier this week, Ericsson revealed it has deployed two million base stations globally, including one million in the past three-and-a-half years alone, as demand for improved 3G networks and penetration into emerging markets has accelerated growth. Ericsson said the milestone is proof of the explosive growth of mobile broadband as growth in consumer adoption and data speeds and technology advancements continue to transform the way people communicate. The astronomic rise in demand for data and mobile broadband is driving the spread of high performance networks and 4G services, which are being trialled and launched at a far faster rate than was seen with 3G—even in developing regions which have only had widespread 3G services for a few years. Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is largely driving 4G growth, as it benefits from a relatively simple evolutionary path from 3G+ technologies like HSPA, and the technology continues to show huge promise, with fresh trials being announced almost daily. Data demand has become the key driver of network growth—and has helped to shield both operators and vendors alike from the worst of the economic downturn.
* Network Quality Becomes Key Factor: Network quality is set to become the key factor for operators, allowing them to claim an advantage over rivals in a way that has not been seen since the early GSM roll-outs in the 1990s. World number-one operator by revenue Vodafone has stated that network quality will become a key concern in developed markets, as demand for more data-hungry mobile services increases, and has recently spoken of the need for the content companies to contribute to bandwidth use to fund investment in network improvements and upgrades. The proposed banning of BlackBerry services in several countries over security concerns has also highlighted the importance of data access, and more pertinently security, to both users and governments alike.
* The Rise of the Smartphone Giants: World number-one handset vendor Nokia has recently seen profits plunge, which it has largely attributed to a failure to maximise build its market share in the smartphone sector, where it has lost out to new players such as Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion (RIM). Apple's spectacular debut into the mobile sector shows little signs of losing momentum, with sales of the iPhone 4 outstripping its predecessors, while key rival RIM recently announced that it saw handset device sales up 9.8% in the second quarter, but continued to express fears over the impact of rising competition from Apple's iPhone and the Android platform. Google's Android operating system (OS) has also shown huge growth, with the latest research suggesting the OS is set to leapfrog Apple's iOS into third place in the world rankings, behind Nokia's Symbian and RIM. While the rise in mobile broadband has provided a vital boost for the whole industry, the real winners are the smartphone vendors, who have been catapulted to the forefront of telecoms in the space of just a few years.
