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Ericsson has revealed the scale of the region’s ongoing data revolution with traffic growth doubling the past year. The June 2014 Sub-Saharan Africa Ericsson Mobility Report shows that in 2014 phone users accessed 76,000 TB (terabyte) of data per month, double the 2013 figure of 37,500 TB per month. The figures are expected to double again with mobile phone users accessing 147,000 TB per month in 2015.

The rise is attributed to the rise of social media, content-rich apps and video content accessed from a new range of cheaper smartphones.

The Report’s findings show that the voice call traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa will double and there will be an explosion in mobile data with usage in Sub-Saharan Africa growing 20 times in the next five years. By 2019 the report predicts that 75 per cent of mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive (3G or 4G).

Fredrik Jejdling, Regional Head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says: “Sub-Saharan Africa is currently undergoing a mobile digital revolution with consumers, networks and even media companies are wakening up the possibilities of 3G and 4G technology. We have seen the trend emerging over a few years but in the past twelve months the digital traffic has increased over 100% forcing us to revise our existing predictions.”

The launch of cheaper smartphones is also part of the reason behind the findings in the report. The 2014 Report predicts that in just three years’ time 3G technology will become the dominant technology across the region.

Download the Ericsson Mobility report here.