Ericsson Mobility Report provides industry-leading projections and analyses of the latest trends in the mobile industry, including subscription, mobile data traffic, and population coverage. Our forecasts are based on past and current data, validated with extensive network measurements. Read the report to learn about the latest figures for 5G, IoT, fixed wireless access, and more.
Mobile subscriptions Q2 2020
In Q2 2020, the total number of mobile subscriptions was about 7.9 billion, with a net addition of 15 million subscriptions during the quarter. Some of the interesting figures:
- The low net addition of mobile subscriptions during the quarter was most likely due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions.
- The year-on-year growth of mobile subscriptions was about 2%.
- China had the most net additions during the quarter (+6 million), followed by Nigeria (+6 million) and South Africa
(+1 million). - In India, the number of subscriptions declined by 4 million, probably due to the removal of inactive subscriptions.
- 5G subscriptions with a 5G-capable device grew by around 50 million during the quarter to reach around 80 million.
- LTE subscriptions increased by approximately 120 million to reach a total of around 4.5 billion, equaling 57% of all mobile subscriptions, while WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions declined by around 50 million.
Mobile network traffic Q2 2020
Mobile network data traffic grew 53 percent between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020.
COVID-19 lockdown restrictions continued to impact consumer behavior during Q2 2020, which in turn affected mobile networks by geographically shifting traffic loads. For example, daytime loads moved, to a degree, from city centers to suburban residential areas due to home-working guidance.
