MUMBAI: With the total number of mobile internet connections rapidly increasing, mobile data traffic is forecasted to grow 13 fold or 66 per cent CAGR by 2017, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2012- 2017 report.
The data traffic on mobile devices is stated to reach 11.2 exabytes (1 quintillion bytes) per month, or 134 exabytes a year. The report also mentions that 46 per cent of all cellular traffic is expected to be off-loaded from fixed or WiFi by 2017 (9.6 exabytes a month), compared with 33 per cent (428 petabytes a month) in 2012. LTE is likely to support nearly 10 per cent of all mobile connections by 2017.
Continued strong growth in mobile internet connections through both personal devices and M2M applications is stated to exceed the UN’s world population estimated of 7.6bn in 2017. Cisco explains that 134 exabytes is the equivalent of three trillion video clips, or one clip daily from each person on earth over one year.
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Mobile data is being driven by an increase in mobile users which is estimated to touch 5.2bn in 2017 as compared to the 4.3bn in 2012, and a rise in mobile connections from seven billion in 2012 to 10bn including 1.7bn M2M by 2017.
The other reasons being attributed to the growth include faster mobile speed to 3.9Mbps as compared to the current 0.5Mbps and more mobile videos which will account for 66 per cent of all mobile data traffic by 2017 as compared to the 51 per cent last year. The report also expects M2M traffic including car GPS, asset tracking, medical applications and more to account for five per cent of global mobile data traffic in 2017, while smartphones, laptops and tablets will drive 93 per cent of the traffic. Basic handsets will account for the remaining two per cent of the traffic.
The Middle East and Africa region is expected to witness a 77 per cent CAGR mobile data growth between 2012-2017, Asia-Pacific to see a 76 per cent growth, Latin America 67 per cent, Central and Eastern Europe 66 per cent, North America 56 per cent and Western Europe 50 per cent.
