Swedish communications company Ericsson have compiled and released a report detailing ten consumer trends in the ICT sphere for next year, one of which will be driven – in part – by women in South Africa.

According to the report women will be driving “broad mass market smartphone adoption” as they are more active when using mobile devices, sending and receiving SMS and photos and using social networks. South Africa, along with Russia, Egypt and Turkey, leads the way in SMS usage globally.

Other trends highlighted by the report include increased cloud service usage, a greater shift towards more mobile computing devices, increased use of personal mobile devices in the workplace and heightened demand for quality mobile coverage in cities.

Education is also expected to get a boost, with more classrooms relying on technology to assist in the learning process.