VIDEO INTERVIEW: Ericsson is forecasting tremendous growth in mobile broadband across Asia Pacific and believes the number of 4G users in the region will equal the number of 3G users in just five years.

Magnus Ewerbring, Ericsson’s CTO for APAC, told Mobile World Live that by 2020 the region will have 1.9 billion LTE users and 1.9 billion 3G users. “There’s a very big change happening with people getting smartphones and embracing the internet,” he said, noting that demand will put pressure on operators to provide quality service to more and more end-users.

Looking ahead to 5G, Ewerbring said that it’s vital that the future network is able to embrace the rising volumes of data that will go through the system. “We need to make sure now that we have a very competitive system that is competitive not only in 2020, as 5G is being introduced, but it will be there in 2025 when the real mass-market picks up, and say five years later when 5G will likely be at its peak.”

He asked what will the internet be like in 15 years? Answering his own question, he said: “We’ll see, but 5G will carry it, that’s for sure.”

Licence Assisted Access (LAA), which will come on the market towards the end of this year, he said, will give operators the option to run LTE service in licensed bands and, if conditions permit, to use the unlicensed band. “This I think can be a nice complement in indoor environments for example.”

To hear his views on the issue, and watch the full interview, click here.