M2M, smart phone and 4G to grow faster

The latest Ericsson market research report on wireless tech finds that number of active cellular M2M devices will increase 3-4 times by 2019, from 200 million at the end of 2013. While the majority of cellular M2M devices today are still GSM-only, that is expected to shift by 2016 when 3G/4G will represent the majority of active cellular M2M subscriptions, as per report. Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President and Ericsson's Chief Strategy Officer, says: "We see cellular M2M taking off. Over time, cellular M2M services and applications related to, for example, intelligent transport systems, will require very short latency in order to be efficient. By 2019 we estimate that more than 20 percent of the active cellular M2M devices will be connected to LTE subscriptions. We also see new device-to-device and M2M applications as a key focus of 5G networks." Other findings reported include: 2015: subscriptions surpass global population Next year the total number of mobile subscriptions will exceed the world's population. Mobile subscriptions have grown by 7 percent year-over-year, with 120 million net additions in Q1 alone. Mobile broadband subscriptions also continue to grow and will reach 7.6 billion by the end of 2019, representing more than 80 percent of total mobile subscriptions. 2016: smartphones outnumber basic mobiles In two years' time, in 2016, the number of...