Mobile data traffic expected to double

KUALA LUMPUR: Ericsson expects mobile data traffic in Malaysia to double this year, in line with global trends, says Todd Ashton, its newly appointed president for Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

In its Ericsson Mobility Report recently, the company stated that mobile data traffic was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 50 per cent (2012-2018), driven mainly by video.

"This entails a growth of about 12 times by the end of 2018 and the increase will continue as people increasingly use mobile data in their everyday life.

"It is forecast that long-term evolution (LTE) population coverage in Asia Pacific (APAC) will increase to 60 per cent by 2017, surpassing the global average of 50 per cent in the same year," Ashton said in a statement.

By 2017, APAC will account for about two-thirds of the world's LTE population coverage, he added.

Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia joins Singapore and the Philippines as the early adopters of technology.

"With the recent spectrum assignment in Malaysia, we expect that several players will launch mobile broadband services based on LTE by the middle of this year, with Maxis already leading the charge," he said.

"These are truly exciting times for the Malaysian market. I am looking forward to sharing my global experience and continue our effort to develop the networked society for people in Malaysia," Ashton said. Bernama