Global telecom technology and service provider, Ericsson has predicted in its latest Traffic and Market Data Report that the number of mobile broadband subscriptions will rise to an absurd-sounding 5 billion+ by 2016.

Though the number of such mobile broadband subscriptions was earlier expected to cross 1 billion by the end of this year, it is now being estimated that there will be about 900 million such subscriptions by the end of the year. The growth forecasts for 2016 are built on an expected year-on-year growth rate of 60%.

Mobile data traffic is likely to double this year. This is mainly due to the proliferation and availability of new devices such as smartphones and tablets. Smartphone traffic alone is expected to triple this year.

According to the report, users living on less than 1% of the earth’s land area (urban regions with over 1,000 people per square kilometer), will generate around 60% of this traffic. Video consumption on mobile devices is likely to be the main driver of this growth.

Ericsson also expects that the traffic generated by these advanced smartphones will rise 12-fold, and roughly equal mobile PC generated traffic by 2016.

Predicted growth of mobile data consumption (in PetaBytes)

The usage of mobile broadband services has been increasing at a very fast rate. This is most likely because of the increased availability of smartphones, tablets, cheap laptops and other portable devices coupled with the availability of several types of data plans to suit each user’s needs.

While the number of mobile broadband connections was just about 200 million in 2008, it crossed the ½ billion mark in August 2010, according to mobile equipment manufacturer Ericsson. They now estimate that this figure will cross the 1 billion mark in 2011, and further predict that this number will go up to 3.8 billion by 2015.

The increased use of mobile broadband services has started adding to the revenue generated by telecom operators and also has caused an increased demand for mobile gear. Telecom firms such as TeliaSonera, Telenor and Tele2 have already reported increased use of mobile Internet services.

Adoption of mobile broadband is most prolific in the Asia-Pacific region, which is expected to account for 400 million users. North America and Western Europe are surprisingly not far behind, contributing an additional 200 million subscriptions each, in spite of the already high number of fixed-line broadband subscribers.

Customer satisfaction with mobile broadband in the Western countries, though, is pretty poor. Most customers complain about slow speeds and low download limits, especially when compared to speeds on unlimited broadband connections via ADSL and cable connections. These services tend to be used in these regions mostly by travelling business personnel.

In many parts of Asia, though, mobile broadband is the only available option, which accounts for the greater number of regular subscribers.

Their aim is to increase the speed of the Internet by over 100 times the present speed that most Americans have. They will introduce 1 gigabit per second fibre-to-the-home connections.

Google’s goal in doing so is to help make the Internet better and faster than it is at present for all users.

Some of the features they hope to be able to achieve are as follows:

• Next Generation Apps: They believe that developers and users may be able to create new bandwidth intensive “killer” apps with the ultra high speeds.
• New Deployment Techniques: They will test new ways to build fibre networks and to help in informing and supporting deployments elsewhere. They will also share this know-how with others.
• Openness and Choice: They will operate an open access network, which will give users a choice between several service providers.

Google is yet to identify the appropriate communities in which to set up and conduct this trial. They intend to offer this service to anywhere between 50,000 and 5,00,000 people at very competitive prices.

The Dallas Morning News reports that American Airlines have started with a test service on flights between New York and Los Angeles. They are expected to expand the scope of this service to include flights between New York to San Francisco, and New York to Miami, in a few weeks.

To start with the facility will be restricted to the Boeing 767-200 aircraft, but may be provided on other aircraft at a later stage if all goes well.

This facility will allow passengers to check and send emails and instant messages, and also to download movies and videos, and access various networks from their laptops or other handheld devices during the flight. However, there will be no voice-based services or chats as they are banned.

Aircell will provide this service, called GoGo, for free initially during the test phase, but will later be charging clients a flat rate of $9.95 for flights of up to 3 hours and $12.95 on longer flights. Those who wish to use only American’s Website, Frommer’s, online travel guide will be able to do so for free.

The service is expected to provide broadband speeds of up to 2 Mbps per customer across all classes. The system will be organised in such a way that different passengers can access email or download files and movies at the same time without disturbing the functioning of other computers.

The service has already been in the test stages for the last 3 months, but it is only now that it will be available to passengers.

Though American Airlines is the first airline to start this facility, Aircell is already in talks with several other airlines, and they are confident that it is only a matter of time before the services are available on several other airlines as well.

Google’s Senior Policy Director, Richard Whitt, says that this will help users to let their ISPs know when they are not happy with the service and if they feel that the service is being tampered with or they are being discriminated against.

According to Whitt, neutral networks are essential for continued innovations in application development. He feels consumers should join an arms race, for net neutrality, to prevent discrimination between content and applications and that users should not be charged extra for these facilities. He further adds that these forces are very strong as they have political connections and lots of money.

However it is not yet clear when these tools will be ready, or how they will function.

Last August, TorrentFreak had reported that Comcast was interfering illegally with their file transfers. The allegations were denied, of course, but the Associated Press showed that the allegations were true. The federal Communications Commission will investigate these charges, and last May a bill was re-introduced in Congress to rewrite U.S. Antitrust Laws in order to prevent discrimination or extra charges on lawful applications and content.

This is a victory of sorts for Google, who have maintained that such regulations are needed to check on Broadband providers.

It may be noted, however, that Google was not as enthusiastic about neutrality way back in 2005 when they believed that a non-neutral world would be good for them.

A post on the Official Google Blog announced that the newly created wireless network will be a combination of Clearwire’s existing WiMax business, Sprint’s broadband infrastructure and the 2.5 GHz spectrum. The company will be 51% owned by Sprint but will be headquartered in Clearwire’s premises in Washington state.

Michael Mace, a principal at Rubicon Consulting reports that Google will provide search and applications such as Gmail, Maps and YouTube to the network’s users, in exchange for their contribution of $500 million. Clearwire will sell Google Android handsets. Google and Clearwire will also form an open Internet Protocol, which will be coordinated with mobile broadband devices and also Android powered devices.

Google has got a very good deal out of this partnership. If thing go according to plan, they could have direct access to a US-wide network of mobile Internet users for a fraction of the amount Verizon paid for the 700 MHz wireless spectrum.

This new network will allow its customers to choose their software applications, content and handsets as per their requirements. Users will thus be free to employ the openness principles of the Internet and have a mobile broadband experience that isn’t dictated by operator or handset manufacturer limitations.

Clearwire will build and maintain a WiMax network that will be able to support these new open standards for spectrum as well as wireless handsets. This new network will afford its users high-speed wireless Internet access throughout the United States. Users will be free to utilise any lawful applications, content and devices without any kind of censorship or blocking of Internet traffic.

According to Sprint, the WiMax network is not expected to be widely accessible until 2010. These are all forward looking statements and the end results may differ substantially from current projections.