MANILA, Philippines – Cloud technology, 5G connectivity capabilities, the Internet of things, and devices and wearables. These were 4 trends growing more commonplace in various parts of the world, according to Elie Hanna, president of Ericsson Philippines and the Pacific Islands.

At an event held last Thursday, March 19, Hanna shared these 4 trends of information and communications technology (ICT) companies he observed at the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) in Barcelona, Spain. Ericsson is helping to make sure the themes are being expanded upon further through partnerships with other companies in various regions.

At the same time, Hanna predicted 4 changes that would become prevalent in 2015.

The 4 changes, Hanna shared, are that “more people will watch streamed, on-demand video than broadcast TV on a weekly basis; video will generate half of the mobile data traffic; LTE subscriber growth will exceed 80%; and world mobile broadband coverage will be above 70%.”

“These are all massive forces of change and open up new opportunities both in the ICT industry and in other industries,” he added.

The 4 trends

With regard to cloud technology, Ericsson was pushing for better cloud-based technology thanks to a Hyperscale Cloud solution it introduced at MWC 2015. The Hyperscale Cloud solution adds new software and hardware to cloud solutions to provide highly governed and secure technology, which the company said would mitigate concerns about security and governance and improve cloud technology adoption by large enterprises.

The rise of technologies surpassing 4G mobile capabilities is something that is seen as a far-flung outcome of technological development. Hanna went on to explain that 5G capabilities would come with improvements to LTE technology, and the company is trying to further 5G development by developing solutions and partnerships to grow 4G and beyond.

NTT Docomo in Japan, for one, is performing trials of 5G in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Australia’s Telstra is also teaming up with Ericsson to collaborate on improving 4G technologies and developing 5G standards and technologies, leading to 5G field trials in Australia.

As regards the Internet of things and devices and wearables, the company also explained that while data and connectivity are important, applications and the experience one has with apps on various devices also needed to be considered. This is the reason behind Ericsson’s launch of the App Experience Optimization service, which gives operators a more valuable view of network performance, at MWC 2015.

“Operators adapt and optimize their networks for data, which long ago surpassed voice traffic. But the new reality is not just data, it’s apps. And the biggest driver of smartphone customer loyalty is network performance,” Hanna said in a statement.

More information on other Ericsson MWC 2015 highlights is available on its MWC landing page. – Rappler.com