The Internet of Things (IoT) will light up cellular networks over the next several years, according to a new forecast from the mobile telecommunications experts at Ericsson. The number of machine-to-machine (M2M) and consumer electronic devices with cellular subscriptions will grow to 1.5 billion, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report (PDF). By contrast, 2015 […]
The Internet of Things (IoT) will light up cellular networks over the next several years, according to a new forecast from the mobile telecommunications experts at Ericsson.
The number of machine-to-machine (M2M) and consumer electronic devices with cellular subscriptions will grow to 1.5 billion, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report (PDF). By contrast, 2015 is expected to yield 400 million subscriptions.
In total, Ericsson expects 28 billion connected devices to pour data onto the world’s networks by 2021, 15 billion of which are of the M2M and consumer device varieties. Ericsson also predicts that both businesses and consumers will snap up faster, better-managed 5G connections.
Seeking blistering download speeds and better data management, customers will purchase 150 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2021, states the report. A 5G subscription, as defined by Ericsson, “requires a device capable of supporting LTE Evolved or NX, connected to a 5G-enabled network, supporting new use cases.”
The commercial rollout of 5G networks meeting the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) IMT-2020 standards is expected to take place in 2020. Some test networks will show up earlier in select markets.
“5G is about more than faster mobile services – it will enable new use cases related to the Internet of Things,” said Rima Qureshi, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Ericsson, in a statement. Her company is already at work on applying next-generation cellular connectivity to more efficient public transportation.
“For example, Ericsson has built a prototype testbed for applying 5G networking functions and data analytics to public transport, which can save resources, reduce congestion, and lower environmental impact,” Qureshi stated. “ICT transformation will become even more common across industries as 5G moves from vision to reality in the coming years.”
In total, Ericsson predicts that worldwide mobile subscriptions will grow from 7.1 billion to 9.1 billion by 2021. Smartphone and tablet monthly data traffic will skyrocket, from 1 gigabyte (GB) and 1.8 GB per month to 8.5 GB and 9.7 GB per month, respectively.
Much of that traffic will be devoted to streaming video.
“In many mobile networks today, 50–70 percent of video traffic is from YouTube. Mobile video in general is forecast to grow by around 55 percent annually through 2021, when it will account for around 70 percent of all mobile data traffic,” stated the report.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
