The number of mobile subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa could hit 930 million by the end of 2019, says international provider of communications technology and services Ericsson.

Ericsson unveiled the forecasts in its Mobility Report released earlier this week.

Mobile subscriptions in the region currently stand at 560 million, according to sub-Saharan Africa region head at Ericsson, Fredrik Jejdling.

The report is a summary of historical data subscriptions and traffic forecasts from various sources and validated with Ericsson internal data including extensive measurements in customer networks, revealed the company.

The forecasts are estimated based on macro-economic trends, user trends (researched by the Ericsson ConsumerLab), market maturity and technology development expectations.

“The mobile phone is the main device for voice communication and internet access in sub-Saharan Africa. This is primarily driven by the lack of fixed infrastructure in the region, and the device’s relatively low cost,” the report reads.

Also stated in the report is that in Africa there is expected to be 17 times more growth in mobile data traffic between 2013 and 2019.

Youth in countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are also expected to be the primary drivers of social networking activity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Furthermore, the report found that although the Middle East and Africa had 80% of 2G subscriptions this year, the same figure would be for 3G/4G subscriptions in the year 2019.

The company’s mobility report also predicts that global mobile subscriptions are to reach 9.3 billion by 2019, with 5.6 billion being smartphone subscriptions.

In 2019, there would be 8 billion mobile broadband subscriptions globally, says Ericsson.