Technology has made rapid advancements at lightning speed and as on date everyone around the globe hopes to stay connected with their dear ones and thus the mobile world has been growing down the years with huge momentum. Even in the remote villages, children urge to access videos and music on the phones and parents are also willing to buy them smartphones to keep pace with the rapidly changing world dynamics. A new mobile report has been recently generated by Ericsson (ERIC, Financial) where it has been propounded that out of 6.6 billion in the world, about 4.6 billion people have mobile phones. Also it has been concluded that the fastest growing segment of mobile phones is the smartphone that’s connected to the Web. Now, standing at this juncture let’s dive in and find out if there is any further scope for technological growth in the mobile arena.
The core research is indicative
As more people want to remain connected, there has been an astounding growth seen in the mobile world with smartphones sales up to two thirds of the mobile phones sold in 2014, from half a year ago. Interestingly, about 800 million smartphones went into service around the globe in 2014. But this mobile segment which is for the clan interested to stay connected through the Web only represents one third of the mobile subscriptions that were signed in 2014. In a report, Ericsson has stated that it believes that smartphone subscriber count would improve remarkably from 2.7 billion in 2014 to about 5.1 billion in the coming six years.
According to Ericsson, there would be 5.6 billion mobile phone users globally by 2020, which means that an additional 1 billion users would subscribe to mobile networks to stay well-connected in the coming five years. The rise in mobile phone users could happen mainly in the emerging markets where the number of mobile phone users has been multiplying at a phenomenal rate, for example, India added 18 million new subscriptions and China added 12 million in the September quarter of 2014. Once the mobile coverage expands, there will be more subscriptions for being connected to the Web.
Investing in new networks
Ulf Ewaldsson, Group CTO for Ericsson, stated, “Mobile operators are constantly innovating. The network of the future will be made up of multi-service processing networks…” He further noted that such medium-sized distribution networks would handle consumers and would work across devices, platforms and formats. They would be able to handle communications indoors as well as outdoors.
He believes that there has been huge innovation on the device end with mobile apps serving as the game-changer in the telecom business. Also, there have been developments on the IT side with growing storage in the data center and demand for the cloud. Now is the time to invest on 5G technology that would have a faster uptake than 4G LTE, just as 4G acceptance was faster than 3G. In fact, video traffic has been pushing the limits of 4G networks and on-line streaming of movies is pushing bandwidth limits, straining capacity. Skyrocketing on-line video may convince the mobile operators such as AT&T (T, Financial) and Sprint (S, Financial) to upgrade to 5G which would have more capacity and intelligence.
Recently, it has been announced that Foxconn would be collaborating with Ericsson to work on the 5G R&D which is expected to enter the markets by 2020. Foxconn Electronics is preparing to invest $126 million for 5G technology development in cooperation with the largest telecom carrier in Europe Ericsson. In fact, Foxconn is looking forward to establish 5G standard during 2016-2018 to compete against Samsung Electronics (SSUN), according to a Commercial Times report.
Final word
As competition in mobile technology continues with great speed, the introduction of 5G networks might lead to a new age development in the long term. Improved connectivity between devices is guaranteed with the 5G network, and only time will foretell the success rate of establishment of such an upgraded network globally. Let’s stay tuned and keep an eye on such recent developments that could add new colour to the changing global dynamics.
