Mobile Subscription Near Billion Mark

By The Nigerian Observer

LAGOS – Ericsson, an Information Technology software and infrastructure company in Africa, says that Africa has topped 880 million in mobile subscriptions for the third quarter of 2014.

This was disclosed in Ericsson’s Mobility Report, which was launched recently and made available to newsmen in Lagos.

The Ericsson Mobility Report is a comprehensive update on mobile trends leveraging big data from live networks worldwide.
The report quoted Fredrik Jejdling, Ericsson’s President & Regional Head, Sub-Saharan Africa as saying that the increase in mobile subscriptions was due to increased availability of low-cost smart phones in the region.

Jejdling said that these low-cost smart phones had led to a rapid increase in smart phone subscriptions in the region.

“ The increased availability of low-cost smart phones in Sub-Saharan Africa will lead to a rapid increase in smart phone subscriptions in the region, “ he said.

He said that the report revealed that proliferation of mobile technology continued at a rapid pace and would see 90 percent of the world’s population over six-year-old having a mobile phone by 2020.

The Ericsson president said that despite the increased rate of sales, there was still room for growth in the sector as many users had yet to make the switch to the more feature-rich, internet-friendly option.

The report predicted a strong uptake in the coming years as the number rises from 2.7 billion smart phone subscriptions today to the forecasted 6.1 billion in 2020.

It also said that video was the largest and fastest growing segment of mobile data traffic in 4G-dominated networks, which currently constituted 45 percent to 55 percent of mobile traffic.

In terms of future outlook, the report estimated that mobile video traffic would increase tenfold by 2020, and ultimately constitute around 55 percent of all mobile data traffic in the year.

“Video is increasingly appearing as part of other online applications such as news and adverts, and on social media platforms and the devices used are also evolving.

“ Many have larger screens, enabling higher picture quality for streamed video, which results in video being consumed on all types of devices and in higher quantities both at home and on the move,“ the report said.