Global mobile network data traffic increased 33% year-on-year in the second half of 2023 reaching 134 exabytes a month. It was a rise of 6% in comparison to the same period in 2022, a report from Ericsson highlights.
According to Ericsson, the increase in data traffic was driven by the increased number of mobile internet users and the growing consumption of data. Data-intensive activities such as video consumption and streaming are said to have contributed to the growth of higher cellular data traffic in the first six months of 2023 which ended on June 30.
However, the yearly growth of global mobile data traffic is coming down. These figures marked an increase of 40% in 2021 and 50% in 2020 but the current indication seems to drive the final stats down at the end of 2023.
Also read: Ericsson achieves 5.7 Gbps in the world’s world’s-first 6CC data call
5G growth faster in Q2
Ericsson said in its Mobility Report from the second quarter in June that the global mobile subscription reached 8.3 billion adding 40 million net new subscriptions in the three months of the second quarter. That’s 105% penetration against the current number of the global population. Global 5G service revenue to reach $315 billion in 2023
Likewise, 5G continued to witness monumental growth in the second quarter of 2023 adding a net 175 million subscriptions compared to the first quarter. Now, the total 5G subscription figure stands at 1.3 billion globally while also charting the revenue. However, the growing deployments of the advanced next-gen network have also led to the decrease in newer 4G additions during the same period. In Q2, 2023, only 11 million new subscriptions were added with its global total reaching 5.2 billion which represents 62% of all mobile subscriptions.
It’s obvious that as 5G becomes more prominent, states and operators will dislodge 4G hardware or upgrade it for Nsa (Non non-standalone) 5G. The same thing happened with 3G and 2G when 4G arrived. As 6G is expected to come around 2028, the same will happen for 5G but that’s still over a decade from even starting.