Ericsson Vision 2022 Doubling Global Smartphone Subscriptions

By Mary Lourd - 17 Nov '16 07:16AM

Ericsson is a multinational networking and a company that offers services, software and infrastructure in information and communications technology (ICT) for telecommunications operators, and traditional telecommunications.

Subscriptions of smartphones globally will almost double by 2022, helping mobile data traffic to eightfold, telecoms network gear maker Ericsson (known as global leader in ICT services and solutions) predicted on Tuesday. It was expected that there will be smartphone subscription globally over 6.8 billion by the end of 2022, up from 3.9 billion in 2016.

Forecast from June this year, it is expected that there will be 6.3 billion smartphone subscriptions by the end of 2021 according to Ericsson.

The head of strategy and technology at Ericsson Ulf Ewaldsson, said that the jump in 5g subscribers to 550 million in 2022 from 150 million in 2021 is the biggest change from its previous report. Ewaldsson told the Reuters that the company predicted that 25 percent of those will be in North America and 10 percent in Asia.

5G is the fifth-generation wireless broadband (based on the IEEE 802. 11ac standard) which will provide better speeds of up to 1 Gb/s for tens of connections and coverage that operates with a 5Ghz signal. Ewaldsson said that at the end of 2017, the first 5G networks will be launched and also the plan to sell 5G equipment on a larger scale will be in 2018.

As mobile data traffic continues to grow, driven by the increasing numbers of smartphone subscriptions and data volume per subscription, fuelled primarily by viewing more of video content.

The Swedish company Ericsson plans to heighten its efficiency and technology to dispense with an expected increase of mobile data traffic of around 40 to 50 percent per year regardless of roughly flat infrastructure investments by telecom operators, according to Ewaldsson.

Ericsson's business includes technology research and development, network and software development and running and evolving operations. They also offer end-to-end services for all major mobile communication standards.