Ericsson mobility report has a new revelation that states that Internet of Things (IoT) is set to overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected device by 2018.
Between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow 23 percent annually. The cellular IoT is forecasted to achieve the highest growth rate. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, close to 16 billion will be IoT devices.
IoT is now accelerating as device costs fall and innovative applications emerge. From 2020, commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide additional capabilities that are critical for IoT, such as network slicing and the capacity to connect exponentially more devices than is possible today, says Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Ericsson.
The jist of report
- Western Europe will have most number of IoT connections by 2021. The growth will be also driven by regulatory requirements such as intelligent utility meters, connected cars etc.
- By 2021, smartphone subscriptions will almost double from 3.4 billion to 6.3 billion. There are 5 billion unique mobile subscribers in the world today that shows phenomenal growth of mobile technology
- Its a fact that the upcoming generation of mobile users are the heaviest consumers of data for smartphone video streaming (Wi-Fi and cellular combined), makes them the most important group for cellular operators to monitor
- Commercial LTE networks are supporting downlink peak data speeds of 1 Gbps. Mobile users are enjoying extremely fast time to content and up to two thirds faster download speeds
The 5G Spectrum
5G is expected to start more quickly than anticipated. The spectrum harmonization is needed between countries planning early roll-outs. This is in addition to the current process for WRC-19, which focuses on spectrum for commercial 5G deployments beyond 2020.
Something more about this report
The Ericsson Mobility Report is one of the leading analyses of mobile data traffic available, providing in-depth measurements from live networks spread around the globe. The report uses these measurements and analysis, together with internal forecasts and other relevant studies, to provide insights into current traffic and market trends in the Networked Society.
The Traffic Exploration Tool, which accompanies the report, can be used to create customized graphs and tables. The information can be filtered by region, subscription, technology, traffic and device type.
The report defines a connected device as a physical object that has an IP stack enabling two-way communication over a network interface.
