A record one billion smartphones will be shipped in 2013 which – along with new TV sets, tablet adoption and 4G rollout – will contribute to a looming spectrum and broadband shortage globally.
Australia’s investment in the NBN puts it ahead of most other nations in the developed world – but only in broadband, according to Deloitte Australia’s lead telecoms partner Stuart Johnston.
Launching the latest edition of Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2013 report, Johnston said that 2013 is likely to become known as the Year of the Device.
Deloitte also predicts PC usage to thrive despite the growing use of tablets and smartphones; the end of strong password-only security; and more TV and movie services to be delivered by existing broadcasters and distributors.
“Out of this growing number of smartphone owners, close to 2 billion by the end of the year, some 400 million will rarely or never connect their devices to data. This is an important consideration for those organisations developing a ‘mobile centric’ customer strategy,” Johnston said.
“In addition, in Australia we anticipate the phablet (a phone/tablet combination exemplified by Samsung’s Note models) to become the uber cool device of 2013.”
Johnston said that in 2013 Deloitte anticipates that 80 percent of Internet traffic will come from PCs and that 70 percent of hours spent on computing devices will be spent on PCs.
Deloitte has also challenged the perception that new TV viewing services will pose a threat to television broadcasters, arguing they will lift the networks more than competing services like Google TV.
It also predicts that 2013 will be a year of momentum for 4G with more than 200 operators in 75 countries expected to have launched LTE by the end of 2014.
Johnston said LTE subscriptions should exceed 200 million – a 17-fold increase in just two years.
