Ericsson: Mobile video traffic to grow 60% annually by 2018

Mobile data plans for the next few years will have to take into account a surge in data traffic, according to a new statistic released by Ericsson. The network equipment supplier said in its latest mobile business report that mobile data traffic will increase 12 times between now and 2018, driven by the rapid adoption of Long Term Evolution (LTE) network connections and a surge in mobile video streaming use.
Ericsson said that overall mobile data traffic has doubled every year in recent years, with mobile devices growing faster than PCs. Four key factors driving this growth are faster networks, the growth in the number of smartphones, more users and rising interest in mobile video services such as YouTube, Netflix and mobile video recording and sharing app Vine (owned by Twitter).
Ericsson added that video traffic on mobile networks will grow 60 percent per year until the end of 2018, when it will account for half of global mobile data traffic.
"Video streaming services are showing very strong growth in some markets," Ericsson said in its report. "People are using services such as Netflix, HBO and Vimeo on all types of devices. As video conferencing moves beyond fixed facilities in conference rooms to mobile devices, it will also drive growth in video traffic on mobile networks."
Ericsson has raised its forecast for global adoption of LTE, a faster wireless standard also known as 4G, as LTE adoption is accelerating faster than expected. Previously, the company thought the standard would reach 1.6 billion people by 2018, but now it expects it will reach 2 billion people.
Don McCullough, Director of Communications at Ericsson, said that LTE is achieving the fastest development speed known in the field of network technology. It took 20 years for the earlier GSMA standard to reach today's geographical coverage, and 15 years for the faster standard HSPA. According to forecasts, LTE will only take 7 years to reach the same level of coverage.
Ericsson, which says it has a 50 percent share of LTE network infrastructure worldwide, expects LTE and HSPA standards to dominate mobile networks in 2018, with LTE coverage particularly broad in North America.
The pace of mobile network expansion has been so rapid that Ericsson has had to revise up its forecast for the number of smartphone users worldwide in 2018, from 3.3 billion to 4.5 billion.