The number of mobile subscriptions grew at 2 percent year-on-year and currently totals around 7.9 billion, globally.
China had the most net additions during the quarter (+30 million), followed by Nigeria (+5 million) and the Philippines (+4 million).
According to Ericsson Mobility Report for June 2019, the high subscription growth in China continues from last year, and is likely the result of intense competition among communications service providers in the country.
In India, the number of subscriptions declined by 14 million, and was attributed mainly due to the introduction of a minimum regular recharge amount by some large operators, to tackle low-paying users and increase average revenue per user (ARPU).
According to the report, the number of mobile broadband subscriptions grew at 15 percent year-on-year, increasing by 140 million in Q1 2019, globally.
The total is now 6 billion, equalling 76 percent of mobile subscriptions.
The number of LTE subscriptions increased by 160 million during the quarter to reach a total of 3.7 billion, and 47 percent of all mobile subscriptions are now for LTE.
The net addition for WCDMA/HSPA was around 20 million subscriptions.
GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions declined by 80 million, while other technologies declined by around 30 million.
Subscriptions associated with smartphones account for more than 60 percent of all mobile phone subscriptions.
The report noted that the number of mobile subscriptions exceeds the population in many countries, which is largely due to inactive subscriptions, multiple device ownership or optimization of subscriptions for different types of calls.
As a result, the number of mobile subscribers is lower than the number of mobile subscriptions.
Today, there are around 5.7 billion subscribers globally compared to 7.9 billion subscriptions.
Global mobile subscription penetration is now at 104 percent.