Data traffic to grow at 50% CAGR: Ericsson

Data traffic has doubled between Q3 2011 and Q3 2012 and it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 50% between 2012 and 2018, revealed Ericsson Mobility Report. Ericsson's research shows that online video is the biggest contributor to mobile traffic volumes, constituting 25 percent of total smartphone traffic and 40 percent of total tablet traffic. Total mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 6.6 billion by the end of 2

012 and 9.3 billion by the end of 2018. This number excludes machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions. China alone accounted for about 35 percent of net additions during Q3, with about 40 million additional subscriptions.

Brazil (9 million), Indonesia (7 million), and the Philippines (5 million) followed in terms of net additions. Overall, global mobile penetration reached 91 percent in Q3 2012, and mobile subscriptions now total around 6.4 billion. Mobile subscriptions have grown by around 9 percent year-on-year and 2 percent quarter-on-quarter, said the report.

The report further added that Asia Pacific (which includes India) had the largest share of the total traffic in 2012. The region is expected to increase its share of data volume from around one third today to almost 40 percent in 2018. LTE is the fastest-developing system in the history of mobile communications in terms of buildout and uptake.

LTE is currently being deployed and built out in all regions, and total subscriptions will increase from around 55 million at the end of 2012 to an estimated 1.6 billion in 2018. WCDMA/HSPA networks currently provide coverage to more than half the world's population and continue to grow faster than LTE in terms of absolute numbers, adding 65 million subscriptions in Q3 2012 compared with 13 million for LTE.