Ericsson Mobility Report (June 2023) has predicted that in Nigeria, the average data per active smartphone will hit 19 GB per month in 2028, attributing the increase in data traffic to be primarily driven by a four times increase in smartphone traffic between 2022 and 2028.
“The average data per active smartphone will settle at 19 GB per month in 2028, with the data traffic primarily driven by a four times increase in smartphone traffic in the period,” it said.
According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to be the region with the highest growth in total mobile data traffic, rising by 37 percent annually between 2022 and 2028 as service providers across the continent continue to invest in 4G networks and migrate customers from 2G and 3G.
Punch Newspaper reported that as of the end of 2022, the average monthly mobile data usage per smartphone was 4.7 GB in the region. The growth in mobile traffic was expected to be driven by an uptake in 5G, which would drive video streaming consumption. By 2028, video streaming would be responsible for 80 percent of all mobile data consumption.
The global mobile network data traffic reached 126 EB in the first quarter of 2023, it was also double the 66 EB per month it was in Q1 2021. According to the Ericsson Mobility report, this traffic growth was being driven by both rising smartphone subscriptions and increasing average data volume per subscription, fueled primarily by increased viewing of video content.