Data traffic per smartphone user to reach 11 GB per month by 2022: Report

Introduction of VoLTE will unleash a superior experience for users, says Ericsson Mobility Report

The data traffic per smartphone user would grow to 11 GB per month by 2022, revealed the Mobility Report 2017 by Ericsson. The growth projection is done keeping in view the fast-paced smartphone adoption, changing user behaviour and disruptive pricing strategies of telecom operators.

As per the report, VoLTE subscriptions are projected to reach 4.6 billion by the end of 2022. By this time, the VoLTE subscriber base in India is pegged at 370 million.

“VoLTE represents a great opportunity for telecom operators in India who are looking to route voice calls over 4G LTE networks enabling lower cost per minute for voice calls as well as free up legacy spectrum bands for re-farming” states Nitin Bansal, Head of Network Products, Ericsson India.

The introduction of VoLTE will unleash a superior experience for users by enabling high quality voice and video calling as well as other rich communication services from their device’s native dialler with no need of additional applications.

According to the report, the increased distribution and consumption of video and multimedia services as well as the growth in mobile banking transactions and digital payments would give boost to the data traffic in the country and by the Year 2022, 97 per cent of mobile data traffic would come from smartphones.

“As new apps continue to emerge and usage behaviour evolves, network performance will play an even bigger role in determining smartphone users’ loyalty towards their operators. In fact, Mobile broadband experience in India is five times more effective in driving loyalty than tariff structure and pricing.”, said Nitin Bansal.

The report reveals data is generating far more traffic than voice calls. The interest in video streaming continues to grow as consumers are increasingly watching videos on their smartphones. Social media services and apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, are no longer used solely to post and share messages, but to stream videos as well. The ability to watch live broadcasts of user-generated and professional content on existing apps has also increased the appeal of live streaming. 

In 2017, smartphone subscriptions in India are expected to represent 30 per cent of all mobile subscriptions. By 2022, this number is expected to reach over 60 per cent. By this time, smartphone subscriptions are set to reach 890 million. India’s mobile subscription base crossed 1.2 billion mark in January 2017. Total mobile subscriptions are estimated to increase by 4 per cent per year, exceeding 1.4 billion in 2022.