Consumers and carriers are slowly but surely transitioning to 4G and the hunger for high speed broadband on the go is transforming the way we use our clever mobile devices, including traditional kit like notebooks. Earlier this week Samsung announced its first 5G milestone, proudly telling the world that 1Gbps 5G is coming by 2020.
Ericsson weighed in with a prediction of its own. It reckons that the volume of mobile data traffic will increase 1,000 times beyond 2020. It also expects user data rates to go up by a factor of 100. Since Ericsson hopes to provide much of the gear behind the mobile data revolution, it believes operators should start preparing for the massive amount of next generation devices that will such their broadband dry.
Ericsson’s study found that the number of 4G subscriptions will exceed 100 million by the end of this year, mirroring the findings of earlier studies which concluded 4G will be the fastest growing WWAN in history. Ericsson believes the added speed will force consumers to rethink mobile broadband, as it will open a range of new possibilities for business and leisure.
Of course, Ericsson has a vested interest in 4G and beyond. The company supplied more than 60 live commercial LTE networks so far and about 50 percent of all 4G traffic in the world runs through Ericsson networks.
