Mobile video traffic to grow 55% per year, says Ericsson

Mobile video traffic will grow 55% per year until 2020, driven by video streaming services and the growing prevalence of video in online content, according to Ericsson. 

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report claims that smartphone subscriptions will more than double by 2020, with 70% of the world’s population to use these devices by that date.

“Each year until 2020, mobile video traffic will grow by a staggering 55% percent per year and will constitute around 60% of all mobile data traffic by the end of that period,” said Ericsson.

“Growth is largely driven by shifting user preferences towards video streaming services, and the increasing prevalence of video in online content including news, advertisements and social media.”

The study claims that smartphone penetration will reach 6.1 billion by 2020, with 90% of the world’s population to be covered by mobile broadband networks.

Some 80% percent of all mobile data traffic will come from smartphones with North America and Europe to continue to have highest data usage per smartphone. However, almost 80% of these new smartphone subscriptions will come from Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.