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Ericsson
Mobility Report
This document is a scheduled update to the
quarterly subscription and traffic data section in
the Ericsson Mobility Report, released in June 2018

To view or download a copy of the original report,

please visit: www.ericsson.com/mobility-report

Q2 2018 Update
2 Ericsson Mobility Report | Q2 Update | August 2018
Mobile subscriptions Q2 2018
In Q2 2018, the total number of mobile subscriptions
was around 7.8 billion, with a net reduction
of 13 million subscriptions globally.
Global mobile penetration was 103 percent.
Other interesting developments include:
– Mobile subscriptions grew around
2 percent year-on-year.
– China had the greatest net addition
during the quarter (+37 million),
followed by South Africa (+2 million),
the Philippines (+2 million), Myanmar
(+2 million) and Pakistan (+2 million).
– In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding
China and India), the number of
subscriptions declined by 37 million.
This was mainly due to the recent
implementation of SIM card
registration rules in Indonesia.
– In India, the number of subscriptions
has also declined by 37 million. This
is likely due to the removal of inactive
subscriptions following operator
consolidation.
Mobile subscriptions Q2 2018 (million)
North America
Latin America
Western Europe
Central and
Eastern Europe
Middle East
Africa
APAC (excluding
China and India)
China
India
1
Mainly CDMA2000 EVDO, TD-SCDMA and Mobile WiMAX
– The number of mobile broadband
5.5bn
subscriptions grew by around
170 million in Q2 to reach around
5.5 billion. This reflects a year-on-year
increase of around 15 percent.
– LTE subscriptions increased by There are now 5.5 billion mobile
approximately 150 million to reach broadband subscriptions globally.
a total of around 3 billion, while
WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions grew by
around 40 million. The majority of 3G/4G
subscriptions can use GSM/EDGE as a – The number of unique mobile subscribers
fallback. GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions is around 5.4 billion. The difference
declined by 190 million during the between the number of subscriptions
quarter, and other technologies1 and the number of subscribers is due to
declined by around 13 million. inactive subscriptions, multiple device
– Around 345 million smartphones ownership and/or optimization of
were sold in Q2, which equates to subscriptions for different types of calls.
85 percent of all mobile phones sold in
the quarter. Subscriptions associated with
smartphones now account for 60 percent
of all mobile phone subscriptions.
390
695
515
580
410
1,030
1,520
1,510
1,145
3 Ericsson Mobility Report | Q2 Update | August 2018

New mobile subscriptions Q2 2018 (million) Top 5 countries by net additions Q2 2018

1 China +37 million

North America 2
2 South Africa +2 million
3 Philippines +2 million
Latin America 3
4 Myanmar +2 million
Western Europe 0 5 Pakistan +2 million

Central and
Eastern Europe
3

Middle East 2

Africa 14
APAC (excluding
-37 China and India)

China 37

-37 India

103%
103 percent global subscription
penetration in Q2 2018.
Subscription penetration Q2 2018 (percent of population)

123%
Western Europe

142%
Central and
Eastern Europe

108%
North America
108%
China

82% 112%
Middle East
Africa

85%
107% India
Latin
America 113%
APAC*

*excluding China and India

 4 Ericsson Mobility Report | Q2 Update | August 2018

Mobile traffic Q2 2018

Mobile data traffic grew by 52 percent

between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018.

Traffic growth is driven by both the rising percentage change for mobile data.
number of smartphone subscriptions This curve illustrates a typical moderating
and expanding average data volume per growth rate as the market evolves over time.
subscription, fueled primarily by more In Q2 2018, mobile data traffic grew
viewing of video content at increasingly by around 52 percent year-on-year and
higher resolutions. 9 percent quarter-on-quarter. There are
The graph below shows total global large differences in traffic levels between
monthly data and voice traffic from Q2 2013 markets, regions and operators.
to Q2 2018, along with the year-on-year

Voice Data Year-on-year growth

18 180

16 160

14 140
Total (uplink + downlink) traffic (exabytes per month)

12 120

Year-on-year growth (percent)

10 100

8 80

6 60

4 40

2 20

0 0
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Source: Ericsson traffic measurements (Q2 2018)

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