Mobile data traffic is exploding by almost any measure as people increasingly use their phones to watch NFL games, listen to Beyonce tracks and post Snapchat stories. The average North American smartphone subscriber used just over 5 GB of data per month, a 40% increase from last year, according to a report from telecom gear maker Ericsson on Tuesday.
And with even faster wireless technology, dubbed 5G, in the works, data use will increase 45% annually to 25 GB monthly by 2022, the company projected. The biggest gains will come from people using more data for streaming video and social networking, followed by greater usage for streaming audio and software downloads.
