Mobile Broadband Subscribers To Top 1bn In 2011

Mobile broadband subscriptions look set to exceed 1 billion this year, as more and more IT gadgets launch onto the market, Ericsson has estimated.

The number of mobile Internet subscribers is expected to leap from half a billion in 2010 to one billion before 2011 ends, given that IT manufacturers are rolling out new smartphones, laptops and tablets at an active pace.

According to the Swedish telecom service provider, the introduction of high-performance networks will also accelerate the growth, sending the number of mobile broadband subscriptions to 3.8 billion globally by 2015.

Bright prospect for telecom sector

The estimated figure for mobile Internet adoption suggests a bright future for the telecommunications sector.

In parallel with global mobile data traffic, which continues to grow rapidly, “smartphones’ users are increasingly using applications and internet services on the go,” Ericsson said in a statement.

The Asia Pacific region is expected to record the greatest number of users, or around 400 million. As for North America and Western Europe, telecommunications providers are likely to have over 200 million subscribers each.

Meanwhile, ABI Research has released a report saying shipments of consumer devices that come equipped with mobile broadband connectivity will rise to 58 million between 2008 and 2014.

The gadgets include, among others, e-readers, mobile digital cameras and camcorders, personal media players, personal navigation devices and mobile gaming devices.

“While demand for products in the other categories is just starting to ramp up, consumers are already snapping up connected PNDs and e-book readers in numbers, and will continue to do so,” said Jeff Orr, a senior analyst with ABI, in a statement.