Stories by Olabisi Olaleye
Network solutions provider, Ericsson, has given reasons that make the Internet of Things (IoT) move at a snail’s pace in Africa.
Ericsson stated that, in Africa, many of the telecoms operators were still on the 2G network, while a few had upgraded to 3G but recent 4G technology was yet to gain a foothold.
Mobile broadband in Africa, especially in Nigeria is not where it should be, in relation to more developed countries.
Other reasons include pricing, which needs to be lowered to make Internet accessible, and the need for rural dwellers to be connected.
The company said that there was a great difference between Internet penetration and Internet access, which Africa prides itself on. All these need to be improved to be at par with other nations of he world.
Eicsson further predicted in its latest mobility report that Africa would have one billion 5G subscriptions by 2023.
Substantiating this recently, head of customer unit, Ericsson West Africa, Mr. Nicolas Blixell, said that 5G would cover more than 20 per cent of the global population six years from now, while mobile data traffic would continue to grow, primarily fueled by increased viewing of video content.
“Long-term evolution (LTE) will be the dominant access technology by end of this year, driven by demand for improved user experience and faster networks.
“At the end of this year, LTE would be the dominant mobile access technology. It is estimated to reach 5.5 billion subscriptions and cover more than 85 per cent of the world’s population by the end of 2023,” he said.
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) has been launched in more than 125 networks in over 60 countries across all regions. VoLTE subscriptions are projected to reach 5.5 billion by the end of 2023, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the combined LTE and 5G subscriptions.
He added that smartwatches were some of the latest devices to use VoLTE.
“Users are able to make voice calls directly on their smartwatch, without having a smartphone nearby (multi-SIM). Calls can also be transferred between a user’s smartphone and watch,” Blixell said.
On his part, chief strategy officer and head of technology and emerging business, Ericsson, Niklas Heuveldop, said, “The latest report highlights trends in mobile subscription and data traffic growth, as well as the industry’s effort to tackle the increasing demands on mobile networks globally. In addition, the report examines the emergence of new use cases as network capabilities evolve smartwatches, IoT alarms, and augmented reality-assisted maintenance and repair, to name a few. As we prepare for 5G, these trends will continue to set the agenda for the mobile industry, going forward.”