Nine out of ten people aged six and over will have mobile phones by 2020, Ericsson predicts in its latest Ericsson Mobility Report. The report, one of the world’s leading analyses of data traffic and mobility, also sees smartphone subscriptions reaching 6.1 billion by 2020. The increasing affordability of smartphones in developing markets means they are set to overtake global feature phone subscriptions within two years.

The report also predicts that mobile video traffic will continue to grow dramatically, increasing tenfold by 2020 to account for 55 percent of all mobile data traffic.

Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of M&A at Ericsson, says: "The falling cost of both data usage and handsets, coupled with improved usability and increasing network coverage, are making mobile technology a global phenomenon that will soon be available to the vast majority of the world’s population, regardless of age or location.

"The Ericsson Mobility Report shows that in 2020 the world will be connected like never before, and that we will be well on the way to realizing our vision of a Networked Society in which every person and business is empowered to achieve their full potential."