Ericsson Mobility Report: Global 4G/LTE divide will be wide in 2019

• New analysis: Machine-to-Machine (M2M) takes off with active cellular M2M devices to grow 3-4 times by 2019
• 65 percent of all phones sold in Q1 2014 were smartphones
• Mobile subscriptions to exceed world population in 2015
• 4G/LTE subscriptions to reach 85 percent in North America and 30 percent in Europe in 2019

The latest Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC, news, filings) Mobility Report reveals for the first time that the number of active cellular M2M devices will increase 3-4 times by 2019, from 200 million at the end of 2013. While the majority of cellular M2M devices today are still GSM-only, that is expected to shift by 2016 when 3G/4G will represent the majority of active cellular M2M subscriptions.

Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President and Ericsson’s Chief Strategy Officer, says: “We see cellular M2M taking off. Over time, cellular M2M services and applications related to, for example, intelligent transport systems, will require very short latency in order to be efficient. By 2019 we estimate that more than 20 percent of the active cellular M2M devices will be connected to LTE subscriptions. We also see new device-to-device and M2M applications as a key focus of 5G networks.”

2015: subscriptions surpass global population

Next year the total number of mobile subscriptions will exceed the world’s population. Mobile subscriptions have grown by 7 percent year-over-year, with 120 million net additions in Q1 alone. Mobile broadband subscriptions also continue to grow and will reach 7.6 billion by the end of 2019, representing more than 80 percent of total mobile subscriptions.

2016: smartphones outnumber basic mobiles

In two years’ time, in 2016, the number of smartphone subscriptions will exceed those for basic phones and by 2019 the number of smartphone subscriptions is expected to reach 5.6 billion. In Europe, the number of smartphone subscriptions will reach about 765 million in 2019 and thereby exceed the population number.

65 percent of all phones sold in Q1 2014 were smartphones. Compared to today, a smartphone user in 2019 is expected to consume almost four times the amount of mobile data per month. This contributes to the 10-fold growth prediction in mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019.

Qureshi says: “The growth and the evolution in M2M and the 10-fold growth in mobile data traffic strengthen the emphasis on network performance, handling complexity and maximizing the user experience. This in turn puts even higher requirements across the networks and the operations and business support systems of the future.”

2019: 4G/LTE subscription divide will be wide

In 2019, LTE population coverage in Europe will be around 80 percent, but Europe will only see LTE subscription penetration of 30 percent compared to 85 percent in North America the same year. Even within Europe there will be large differences between Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. Population coverage for LTE in North East Asia is expected to be 95 percent by 2019, with LTE penetration levels at 45 percent. By the same year, China is expected to reach over 700 million LTE subscriptions, representing more than 25 percent of total global subscriptions for LTE.

This edition of Ericsson Mobility Report includes further analysis of how one solution to cater for the rising traffic levels and app requirements is to evolve mobile broadband networks into heterogeneous networks that leverage an evolved macro cell layer complemented with integrated small cells.

Tool for custom data

To accompany the Ericsson Mobility Report, Ericsson has created the Traffic Exploration Tool, for creating customized graphs and tables using data from the report. The information can be filtered by region, subscription, technology, traffic and device type.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Ericsson has performed in-depth data traffic measurements in mobile networks from the world’s largest installed base of live networks. These measurements have been collected from all regions since the early days of mobile broadband.

The full Ericsson Mobility Report findings, regional appendices for Europe, North East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Ericsson’s Traffic Exploration Tool are available at: www.ericsson.com/ericsson-mobility-report

A regional appendix for South East Asia and Oceania will be published June 18, 2014

Biography and photos of Rima Qureshi

Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality video at www.ericsson.com/press

Ericsson is the driving force behind the Networked Society – a world leader in communications technology and services. Our long-term relationships with every major telecom operator in the world allow people, businesses and societies to fulfill their potential and create a more sustainable future.

Our services, software and infrastructure – especially in mobility, broadband and the cloud – are enabling the telecom industry and other sectors to do better business, increase efficiency, improve the user experience and capture new opportunities.

With more than 110,000 professionals and customers in 180 countries, we combine global scale with technology and services leadership. We support networks that connect more than 2.5 billion subscribers. Forty percent of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks. And our investments in research and development ensure that our solutions – and our customers – stay in front.

Founded in 1876, Ericsson has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Net sales in 2013 were SEK 227.4 billion (USD 34.9 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX stock exchange in Stockholm and the NASDAQ in New York.

www.ericsson.com
www.ericsson.com/news
www.twitter.com/ericssonpress
www.facebook.com/ericsson
www.youtube.com/ericsson

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Ericsson Corporate Communications
Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
E-mail: media.relations@ericsson.com

Ericsson Investor Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 00 00
E-mail: investor.relations@ericsson.com

• Ericsson Mobility Report Press Release
• Ericsson Mobility Report – Main Report
• Regional Appendix – Europe
• Regional Appendix – North East Asia
• Regional Appendix – Sub-Saharan Africa
• Graph – page 4 – Global mobile subscriptions
• Graph – page 5 – Mobile subscriptions net additions
• Graph – page 5 – Regional mobile subscription penetration
• Graph – page 7 – Mobile subscription by technology
• Graph – page 8 – Regional mobile subscription outlook
• Graph – page 9 – Mobile technology by region
• Graph – page 29 – M2M radio capability distribution