The mobile world of 2020

In 2020, smartphones will account for 80 percent of mobile data traffic.The latest edition of Ericsson's Mobility Report, published today, shows that by 2020, advanced mobile technologies will be part of everyday life around the world: The number of connections used via smartphone will have more than doubled to 6.1 billion by then. 70 percent of the world's population will use smartphones and 90 percent will be served by mobile broadband networks.According to the report, which describes current developments in mobile communications, growth in saturated markets will be driven by an increasing number of devices per user. In developing regions, the market is driven by the growing number of users benefiting from cheaper smartphone prices. Almost 80 percent of the subscribers who will purchase a smartphone for the first time by the end of 2020 will come from the Asia/Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.Catching up with LTE in Western EuropeIn Japan and South Korea, 45 percent and 70 percent respectively of mobile lines were already based on the modern high-speed LTE technology at the end of 2014. In North America, this figure was 40 percent in 2014, and only around 15 percent in Western Europe. By 2020, however, the proportion of LTE connections in Western Europe is expected to increase almost sixfold to 85 percent. In Europe as a whole, the number of LTE lines will then be around 700 million. At the same time, the number of connections used via smartphone in Europe is expected to have almost doubled to 830 million.Valter D'Avino, Head of Region Western and Central Europe at Ericsson, says: "Compared with North America and other countries in the world that introduced this technology early, Western Europe is still lagging behind in LTE penetration (4G) today. In North America, it already reached 40 percent at the end of 2014 compared to around 15 percent in Western Europe. However, Western Europe will have almost made up this shortfall by 2020. This past experience shows how important it is to introduce new technologies such as the future 5G standard at an early stage."Mobile data usage by smartphones ten times higher worldwideThe growing penetration of smartphones is accompanied by an accelerated increase in global data usage. According to the report's forecasts, the volume of data transmitted via smartphones will increase tenfold by 2020. By then, 80 percent of all mobile data traffic in the world will be generated by smartphone users. Average monthly data usage per smartphone in Europe, for example, will increase from the current 1.2 GB to 6.5 GB by 2020.By 2020, the volume of mobile video data transferred will increase by a staggering 55 percent each year, eventually accounting for 60 percent of all mobile data traffic. This growth is largely due to users preferring streaming services on the one hand, and video embedding in online content becoming more prevalent on the other, for example in news, advertising and social networks.In terms of data usage in developed mobile markets, the report shows that a significant proportion of data volume is generated by a limited number of users. These intensive data users represent ten percent of subscribers, but generate 55 percent of total data traffic. The largest share is taken up by video consumption, which the typical heavy user typically used for about one hour per day in 2014 - which was twenty times more than the average user.With the Mobility Report, Ericsson makes available key forecast data, research and insights on mobile data traffic, subscriber numbers and consumer behavior to highlight current trends in the connected society. Ericsson conducts regular traffic measurements in over 100 communications networks in all major regions of the world. In a selected WCDMA and HSPA and LTE networks respectively, detailed measurements are also taken to identify different patterns in data traffic.