4G connections overtook 3G connections in Europe in 2017

"According to Dataxis  research, the total Mobile SIM market in Europe is becoming saturated, the subscriber growth is mostly due to rapid adoption of 4G and M2M.
At the end of 2017, there were 340 million 4G subscribers in Europe, accounting for 33 per cent of the total mobile subscribers (excluding M2M). 4G connections overtook 3G in 2017 and is expected to reach 64 per cent of the total by 2023 in Europe. M2M will grow at a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 9 per cent during the forecast period of 2017-23, accounting for 17 per cent of the total, reaching 193 million connections, in 2023."

Source:  Advanced Television, 25th July 2018

China has over 40 million 4G subscribers

"Yesterday, China’s Ministry of Industry and Informatization Technology (MIIT) released a report saying that the country now has more than 43 million 4G subscribers. Although July’s numbers came from a different source – China’s State Council Information Office – MIIT’s report suggests that over the last few months, the country has gained nearly 30 million new 4G subscribers.
Given that 4G was first launched in China all the way back in December of 2013, this increased growth speed is good news. Subscriber numbers grew slowly between 4G’s launch in the winter and this past summer, thanks in part to the fact that the government issued a 4G operating license only for China Mobile’s TD-LTE network, and not for the competing FDD-LTE networks of China Mobile and China Unicom. Its intent was to bolster the domestically developed TD-LTE standard as the standard for 4G at home and abroad."

Source:  Tech In Asia, 6th November 2014

Awareness & use of 4G services by market

Click to enlarge

Source:  Ofcom's International Communications Market Report, December 2013

Global mobile data traffic grew 70% in 2012

"The Mobile Network in 2012
Global mobile data traffic grew 70 percent in 2012. Global mobile data traffic reached 885 petabytes per month at the end of 2012, up from 520 petabytes per month at the end of 2011.
Last year's mobile data traffic was nearly twelve times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000. Global mobile data traffic in 2012 (885 petabytes per month) was nearly twelve times greater than the total global Internet traffic in 2000 (75 petabytes per month).
Mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2012. Mobile video traffic was 51 percent of traffic by the end of 2012.
Mobile network connection speeds more than doubled in 2012. Globally, the average mobile network downstream speed in 2012 was 526 kilobits per second (kbps), up from 248 kbps in 2011. The average mobile network connection speed for smartphones in 2012 was 2,064 kbps, up from 1,211 kbps in 2011. The average mobile network connection speed for tablets in 2012 was 3,683 kbps, up from 2,030 kbps in 2011.
In 2012, a fourth-generation (4G) connection generated 19 times more traffic on average than a non-4G connection. Although 4G connections represent only 0.9 percent of mobile connections today, they already account for 14 percent of mobile data traffic.
The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate 16 percent of mobile data traffic, down from 52 percent at the beginning of 2010. According to a mobile data usage study conducted by Cisco, mobile data traffic has evened out over the last year and is now lower than the 1:20 ratio that has been true of fixed networks for several years.
Average smartphone usage grew 81 percent in 2012. The average amount of traffic per smartphone in 2012 was 342 MB per month, up from 189 MB per month in 2011.
Smartphones represented only 18 percent of total global handsets in use in 2012, but represented 92 percent of total global handset traffic. In 2012, the typical smartphone generated 50 times more mobile data traffic (342 MB per month) than the typical basic-feature cell phone (which generated only 6.8 MB per month of mobile data traffic).
Globally, 33 percent of total mobile data traffic was offloaded onto the fixed network through Wi-Fi or femtocell in 2012. In 2012, 429 petabytes of mobile data traffic were offloaded onto the fixed network each month. Without offload, mobile data traffic would have grown 96 percent rather than 70 percent in 2012.
Android is now higher than iPhone levels of data use. By the end of 2012, average Android consumption exceeded average iPhone consumption in the United States and Western Europe.
In 2012, 14 percent of mobile devices and connections were potentially IPv6-capable. This estimate is based on network connection speed and OS capability.
In 2012, the number of mobile-connected tablets increased 2.5-fold to 36 million, and each tablet generated 2.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone. In 2012, mobile data traffic per tablet was 820 MB per month, compared to 342 MB per month per smartphone.
There were 161 million laptops on the mobile network in 2012, and each laptop generated 7 times more traffic than the average smartphone. Mobile data traffic per laptop was 2.5 GB per month in 2012, up 11 percent from 2.3 GB per month in 2011.
Nonsmartphone usage increased 35 percent to 6.8 MB per month in 2012, compared to 5.0 MB per month in 2011. Basic handsets still make up the vast majority of handsets on the network (82 percent)."
Source:  Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017, 6th February 2013