Global mobile subscriptions reached about 7.9-billion during the second quarter of 2020, growing just 2% year-on-year, a new report by information and communication technology giant Ericsson reveals.
The low net addition of 15-million mobile subscriptions during the quarter was most likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions, the latest ‘Ericsson Mobility Report’ says.
China had the most net additions during the quarter under review, with more than six-million mobile subscription additions, followed by Nigeria, with six-million, and South Africa, with one-million.
In India, the number of subscriptions declined by four-million, which the report attributes to the removal of inactive subscriptions.
Overall, global mobile subscription penetration was 103%.
Meanwhile, the number of mobile broadband subscriptions reached 6.4-billion, an increase of 60-million in the second quarter of 2020, reflecting a 7% year-on-year increase.
Long-term evolution subscriptions increased by 120-million, reaching 4.5-billion and accounting for 57% of all mobile subscriptions, while WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions declined by about 50-million and GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions by 110-million during the quarter under review.
Other technologies decreased by about five-million.
Fifth-generation (5G) subscriptions with a 5G-capable device increased by 50-million during the quarter to about 80-million.
Meanwhile, mobile network data traffic grew 53% between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of this year.
The quarter-on-quarter growth rate was close to 11%, which is slightly lower than the 14% recorded in the first quarter of 2020.