In a time when tablets and smartphones substitute PCs as the default computing gadget for many users, so is data traffic switching from fixed to wireless internet connection.
According to Strategy Analytics, this change together with the worldwide trend for increasing the time spent on the internet, is going to generate an enormous growth in wireless data traffic and it’s expected to rise by 300% by 2017 reaching 21EB, compared to only 5EB in 2012. This increase will be due to services like streaming video, but weird enough – not from applications.
Image source: Strategy Analytics
According to the executive director for Apps and Media at Strategy Analytics, David MacQueen, until now the increase in smartphone usage has caused internet traffic to double on an annual basis. Nonetheless, in the following years this will slow down a little bit.
Mobile data traffic analysis
The worldwide mobile data traffic reached 69% in 2012 and it’s expected to increase to 72% in 2013 reaching 23,000PB or 23,000,000,000GB of data. According to ABI Research, in 2018 global mobile data traffic will most likely exceed 131,000PB (131,000,000,000GB).
According to Ericsson, by the end of 2012, worldwide data traffic (not including Wi-Fi) hit almost 1,300 petabytes a month, which accounts for twice as much as in 2011.
Image source: Ericsson
Ericsson’s graphic shows a rough doubling each year during the past few years. According to their report, Ericsson’s measurements are based on a large base of commercial networks that together include all parts of the world.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, mobile internet subscriptions increased from almost 125 million to 1.5 billion, which shows a 50% year-on-year growth. Almost 40% of all mobile devices sold in 2012 were smartphones, in comparison to the 30% in 2011. Solely around 15-20% of the global mobile phone subscriptions use smartphones. This can only mean that there is substantial space for further consumption.
Mobile network traffic forecasting
According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2011 to 2016, global mobile data traffic will grow 18-fold over the following five years, reaching 10.8EB a month (or an annual rate of 130EB) by 2016.
Image source: Cisco Systems
This considerable increase in mobile traffic is expected mostly due to an increase in the number of mobile devices connected to the internet, which will surpass the number of people on earth. During 2011−2016 Cisco expects worldwide mobile data traffic to exceed worldwide fixed data traffic by 3 times.