Ericsson: Mobile data volume increased 300 times over 10 years

According to Ericsson Mobility Report, over the last decade, mobile data usage has increased by almost 300 times. The report also mentioned that by 2027, 5G will make up half the total mobile connections worldwide.

A 300-fold Rise in Mobile Data Usage

While releasing the document, Ericsson noted that it based the findings on current and historical data. Notably, the report not only looks back at the last 10 years but also forecasts till 2027. However, with 5G coming in many countries, the rise in data usage will only increase. According to Ericsson's estimates, 5G will have about 660 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2021.

With China and North America driving 5G growth, the rate of growth will increase. What's more, 5G devices are getting cheaper, which will further drive 5G growth. Right now, 5G has overtaken 4G in net additions; in Q3FY2022, there were 98 million new 5G additions, while 4G only accounted for 48 million new additions worldwide. Ericsson estimated that by the end of 2021, 5G network will cover over 2 billion people worldwide.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, said, “mobile communication has had an incredible impact on society and business over the last ten years. When we look ahead to 2027, mobile networks will be more integral than ever to how we interact, live, and work".

5G will Dominate by 2027

According to Ericsson, 5G will form the single largest mobile access tech, by 2027. It will have almost 50% of all mobile subscriptions and will carry about 62% of global traffic, while also covering four-fifths of the world's population.

Since 2011, 4G networks have generated 5.5 billion new smartphone connections worldwide. That has been reflected by the device ecosystem; there are over 20,000 mobiles that support 4G worldwide. However, 5G will have a steeper cycle, with 5G handsets today accounting for 23% of global volumes, compared to 8% of 4G handsets at the corresponding point in its lifecycle.

As such, this will also fuel the growth of mobile data traffic. In the quarter just passed, Ericsson reported that the mobile traffic was 78 exabytes, up 42% Y-o-Y. The traffic includes the traffic from Fixed Wireless Access or FWA.  In Q3 alone, mobile data traffic was more than all mobile traffic ever generated up until the end of 2016. New forecasts reveal that total mobile network data traffic is likely to reach 370EB by the end of 2027.

Diversifying Use of Mobile Networks

An important driver of 5G's growth has been the changing nature of mobile connections. Broadband IoT has now surpassed 2G/3G as the segment that connects the largest share of IoT applications. It will account for 47% of all cellular IoT connections by the end of 2021, compared to 37% for 2G/3G and 16% for NB-IoT and Cat-M.

New forecasts reaffirm the rapid acceleration of massive IoT deployments in coming years, spanning use cases such as e-health wearables, logistical asset tracking, environmental monitoring, and smart meters, and smart manufacturing tracking and monitoring devices. Massive IoT deployments are forecast to account for 51 percent of all cellular IoT connections by 2027.

In the same forecast period, FWA connections are forecast to grow almost threefold – from 88 million by the end of 2021 to around 230 million in 2027. Almost half of these connections are expected to be carried over 5G networks.