Global 4G subscriptions reached 740 million at the end of the second quarter, surging from 280 million a year earlier, said Ericsson on Thursday.
According to the Swedish kit maker’s latest interim Mobility Report, the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide totalled 7.2 billion at the end of June, up from 6.8 billion a year ago. The actual number of individual subscribers rose to 4.9 billion from 4.6 billion.
Global mobile broadband subscriptions grew by 140 million in the second quarter to reach 3.1 billion, up 25% on Q2 2014, Er icsson said.
3G subscriptions increased by 50 million in the three months to 30 June, while 4G subscriptions climbed by 115 million, the vendor said. GSM-only subscriptions fell by 80 million.
On a regional basis, Asia Pacific, excluding China and India, accounted for 1.42 billion of the world’s mobile subscriptions, followed by China with 1.30 billion and India with 985 million (see chart).
Somewhat surprisingly, the growth rate of mobile data slowed slightly to 55% in the 12 months between Q2 2014 and Q2 2015, from 60% between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014.
"The growth in data traffic is being driven by the rise of mobile data subscriptions, along with a continued increase in average data volume per subscription," said Ericsson, in its report.
