Posted: 22nd Feb, 2012 By: MarkJ


Telecoms manufacturer
Ericsson has today issued an interim update to its annual
Traffic and Market Data Report, which reveals that global Mobile Broadband subscriptions have grown by
60% year-on-year and are now close to a total of
1 Billion. By comparison global mobile penetration has reached 85% (Q4 2011) and mobile subscriptions now total around 6 Billion.
The growth in mobile internet traffic is also highlighted. Ericsson states that
mobile data traffic has doubled between Q3-2010 and Q3-2011, while quarterly growth between Q2-2011 and Q3-2011 hit 18%. Mobile data first surpassed voice traffic in Q4-2009 and became double that of voice for the first time in Q1 2011.
The traffic generated by
mobile PC users is said to vary "
widely" between individuals and markets, yet Ericsson estimates that the global average is now around
2GB per month. Elsewhere Smartphones are said to account for only around 10% of the worldwide installed base of subscriptions, although 30% of all handsets sold in 2011 were Smartphones (up from 20% in 2010).