Nate Hakken, Reporter, BroadbandBreakfast.com
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
WASHINGTON, March 7, 2011 – A study to track and forecast trends in the global mobile network that was released by Cisco Systems last month shows that mobile internet traffic is rising faster than expected.
The white paper study, which was focused mobile video networking, showed strong data about the world mobile network as a whole. For example, mobile network data traffic almost tripled from 2009 to 2010. The data attributed most of the growth to smartphone adaptation worldwide. The average amount of traffic per smartphone in 2010 was 79 MB per month, up from 35 MB per month in 2009. The rise in the newly popular tablet format also made strong inroads to mobile data traffic with a healthy 405 MB per month.
Cisco also showed that overall data usage is spread more evenly across the market, with high-bandwidth users are accounting for a smaller percentage of the overall traffic. The study showed that the top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generated more than 20 percent of mobile data traffic, down from 30 percent one year ago. Similarly, the top 10 percent of mobile data subscribers now generate approximately 60 percent of mobile data traffic, down from 70 percent at the beginning of the year. The Cisco survey also showed 40 percent of smartphone Internet use takes place in the home, 25 percent at work, and the rest occurs in transit.
Cisco also indicates that smartphone adoption is growing faster than predicted.
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Cisco’s study shows that all users, not just early adopters, are consuming more and higher bandwidth content. Although a few megabits per second may be enough today, it certainly will not be enough if consumption keeps doubling each year. If we do not keep pushing fiber closer to the customer, then carriers may not be able to meet the demand in the future.
Related articles
- Cisco predicts mobile data traffic explosion: By the numbers (zdnet.com)
- The Mobile Tsunami is Near: Blame Netflix and Apple (gigaom.com)
- Visualizing Global Mobile Data Traffic Growth (blogs.cisco.com)
