JEDDAH — Despite the market being extremely varied with regards to Information & Communications Technology (ICT) adoption and mobile penetration, the proliferation of mobile technologies continue at a rapid pace. RMEA mobile data traffic will grow 14 times between 2014 to 2020, while globally data will grow 9 times, the inaugural appendix to the Ericsson Mobility Report for the Middle East and North East Africa (RMEA), revealed. Rafiah Ibrahim, President, Ericsson, Region Middle East and East Africa, said: “The ICT transformation has been phenomenal across the region. Such transformation is far beyond simple technological innovation, it calls us to reshape existing business models and infrastructure environments. In the future, it will address completely new needs arising from technological and consumer behavioral changes. Just imagine the possibilities.” Ibrahim added “Ericsson's mobility report provides a glimpse into the future of mobility, allowing us to capture the opportunities made possible by the Networked Society, where everything that can be connected will be connected.” The region as a whole had around 680 million mobile subscriptions at the end of 2014. Between 2014 and 2020 it is forecast that mobile subscriptions will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6 percent, amounting to 970 million. The Ericsson Mobility Report showed that in 2020 the growth of technology coupled with the mobile subscriptions will create never-before-seen levels of connectivity in the region. LTE subscriptions are on the rise and are expected to triple in 2015 alone, and surpass 210 million by 2020, equating to around 20 percent of all mobile subscriptions. 17 percent or 125 million of all mobile subscriptions were attributed to smartphones at the end of 2014; however, as inexpensive smartphones become abundant and mobile broadband rollouts accelerate, smartphone subscriptions will increase across all the markets. Of the 970 million mobile subscriptions predicted at the end of 2020, 40 percent will come from smartphones. 14 times growth expected in mobile data traffic by 2020 By 2020, the amount of data used monthly by each active smartphone will increase substantially from an average of 0.8GB in 2014 to approximately 5GB. Data intensive utility, communication and entertainment services are commonly used by smartphone owners. Mobile video traffic will continue to grow driven by video streaming services and increasing prevalence of video in social media. Forty percent of the world's mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks, allowing it to facilitate better business for the telecommunications and other industries. Smartphone subscription and mobile technology are unlocking the potential for a mass-scale transformation.
Total mobile data traffic is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 45 percent. Mobile data traffic growth is due to both the rising number of smartphone subscriptions and increasing data consumption per subscriber. This will result in a nine-fold increase in traffic by the end of 2020. The growth in data traffic between 2019 and 2020 will be greater than the total sum of all mobile data traffic up to the end of 2013. There are large differences in subscribers' data consumption patterns between networks, markets and subscriber segments. Factors such as data plans, user device capabilities and network performance all impact data consumption per subscriber. Asia Pacific has a highly diverse mobile broadband market, with varying levels of market maturity. For example, South Korea and Japan deployed LTE early, and several world-firsts in mobile broadband have been achieved in Australia. GSM is still the dominant technology in other countries, and insufficient network quality and the cost of data subscriptions remain factors behind low mobile data consumption. North America and Western Europe currently have a larger share of total traffic volume than their subscription numbers imply. This is due to high penetration of high-end user devices and well built-out WCDMA and LTE networks leading to higher data usage per subscription. In Western Europe, the improved speed and capacity of WCDMA networks and the deployment of LTE will meet consumer demand for a better user experience. Total mobile video traffic over the next 6 years will be more than 22 times that of the last 6. The number of video-capable devices is a prominent factor in the rapid growth of video. Devices are also evolving, with larger screens and higher display resolutions enabling better picture quality. Video is increasingly becoming part of other online content including news, advertisements and social media. Video streaming growth is primarily driven by over-the-top providers like YouTube and Netflix. User behavior is changing, resulting in video being consumed in larger quantities – including when people are out and about – and on all types of devices. Continued WCDMA and LTE deployments enable faster networks and therefore improved video app coverage. Technological improvements, like video compression techniques, allow higher resolutions to be more efficiently transmitted over mobile broadband networks, helping operators accommodate increased demand. — SG
