Smartphones to have biggest impact on ICT, says Ericsson

Another trend is the connected lifestyle with connected service. Consumer preferences are shifting towards more video and app-based mobile usage, said Bunyati Kirdniyom, head of communications and regulatory affairs at Ericsson (Thailand). 

Globally by 2020, 55 per cent of mobile traffic would be through video, and 15 per cent would be social networking. App coverage is making sense, as users want their apps to work anywhere and any time and at top speed.

By 2020, Ericsson expects that there will be 9.5 billion mobile subscriptions 

worldwide, rising from 7.1 billion mobile subscriptions at the end of 2014, of which 

3.5 billion are long-term evolution (fourth-generation) subscriptions and 4.4 billion 

3G (WCDMA/HSPA) subscriptions, and the rest 2G. Ericsson also forecasts 5G 

being commercially deployed by 2020. 

“By 2020, 90 per cent of the world’s population over six years of age will have a 

phone. Smartphone subscriptions are predicted to grow about four times,” Bunyati 

said.

By 2016, it forecast that smartphones would outnumber basic mobile phones. 

Regarding mobile traffic growth, it expects that globally there will be 6.1 billion smartphones by 2020, up from 2.7 billion this year. The total monthly smartphone traffic in 2014 is around 2.1 exabytes, expected to be 17EB by 2020. (An exabyte is a billion gigabytes.) Between 2014 and 2020, mobile data traffic will grow by eight times, while mobile video traffic will grow 10 times. 

He added that Thailand was moving up to third place in the Asia-Pacific region for 3G subscriptions, behind Singapore and Australia. The Thai mobile industry will need more bandwidth to assure affordable mobile broadband and to stay competitive and attractive in the region. 

“A networked society becomes a foundation of a digital economy, which includes mobile, cloud, and broadband,” Bunyati said.