![\"Ericsson](\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ericsson-report-data-use.png\" "\\"Ericsson")
<\/a>Ericsson report: data uses<\/p><\/div>\n
Regional growth<\/h3>\n
Total mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 6.6 billion by the end of 2012 and 9.3 billion by the end of 2018.<\/p>\n
China alone accounted for about 35% of net additions during Q3, with about 40 million additional subscriptions.<\/p>\n
Brazil (9 million), Indonesia (7 million), and the Philippines (5 million) followed in terms of net additions.<\/p>\n
Africa saw 25 million mobile subcriptions added to it’s total of 725 million subscriptions on the continent.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Ericsson report: total subscriptions<\/p><\/div>\n
Overall, global mobile penetration reached 91% in Q3 2012, and mobile subscriptions now total around 6.4 billion.<\/p>\n
Mobile subscriptions have grown by around 9% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter.<\/p>\n
These figures do not include machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions, Ericsson said.<\/p>\n
Total smartphone subscriptions will reach 1.1 billion by the end of 2012 and are expected to grow to 3.3 billion in 2018.<\/p>\n
Today the majority of mobile subscriptions are for basic phones, Ericsson said.<\/p>\n
In 2018, Ericsson predicts that almost all handsets in Western Europe (WE)
\nand North America (NA) will be smartphones, compared with only around one third of handsets for Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Ericsson report: mobile penetration<\/p><\/div>\n
Advent of LTE<\/h3>\n
By mid-2012, LTE coverage was provided for an estimated 455 million people globally. Within five years, Ericsson said, more than half the world’s population is expected to benefit from to LTE coverage.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Ericsson report: LTE penetration<\/p><\/div>\n
“LTE is the fastest-developing system in the history of mobile communications in terms of buildout and uptake,” Ericsson said.<\/p>\n
“LTE is currently being deployed and built out in all regions, and total subscriptions will increase from around 55 million at the end of 2012 to an estimated 1.6 billion in 2018.”<\/p>\n
WCDMA\/HSPA networks are currently growing faster than LTE in terms of absolute numbers, adding 65 million subscriptions in Q3 2012 compared with 13 million for LTE, according to the report.<\/p>\n
“Mobility is becoming an increasingly significant part of our daily lives; we always have devices within arm’s reach, allowing us instant access to information, entertainment and social interaction,” said Douglas Gilstrap, senior vice president and head of strategy at Ericsson.<\/p>\n