(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Mobile data traffic in the Middle East and East Africa is expected to expand more than 14 times between 2014 and 2020, nine times higher than growth of global data, according to Ericsson Mobility Report.
The report revealed that, despite the market being extremely varied with regards to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) adoption and mobile penetration, the proliferation of mobile technologies continue at a rapid pace.
The region as a whole had around 680mn mobile subscriptions at the end of 2014. Between 2014 and 2020 it is forecast that mobile subscriptions will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6%, amounting to 970mn.
The Ericsson Mobility Report showed that by 2020 the growth of technology coupled with the mobile subscriptions will create never-before-seen levels of connectivity in the region.
"The ICT transformation has been phenomenal across the region. Such transformation is far beyond simple technological innovation, it calls us to reshape existing business models and infrastructure environments. In the future, it will address completely new needs arising from technological and consumer behavioural changes," Rafiah Ibrahim, president, Ericsson, Middle East and East Africa, said.
The long term evolution (LTE)/4G subscriptions are on the rise and are expected to triple in 2015 alone, and surpass 210mn by 2020, which is around 20% of all mobile subscriptions.
Highlighting that 17% or 125mn mobile subscriptions were attributed to smartphones at the end of 2014, the report said, however, as inexpensive smartphones become abundant and mobile broadband rollouts accelerate, smartphone subscriptions will increase across all the markets.
Of the 970mn mobile subscriptions predicted at the end of 2020, 40% will come from smartphones, it said.
By 2020, the amount of data used monthly by each active smartphone will increase "substantially" from an average of 0.8GB in 2014 to approximately 5GB.
Data intensive utility, communication and entertainment services are commonly used by smartphone owners. Mobile video traffic will continue to grow, driven by video streaming services and increasing prevalence of video in social media.
The report claimed that today, 40% of the world's mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks, allowing it to facilitate better business for the telecommunications and other industries.
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