Cisco report: mobile network traffic to 2018. will increase 11-fold!
The latest Cisco mobile Visual Networking Index (VNI) report shows that in 2018 mobile traffic will be 190 exabytes (or 190 billion gigabytes) per year. This represents an 11-fold increase between 2021 and 2018!
Such an impressive result is forecast due to the continued growth of mobile Internet connections. Estimated for 2018, the number will be 40% larger than the world population. Cisco also predicts that in four years, global annual mobile traffic will be 190 times greater than all IP traffic in 2000.
The number of 190 exabytes can be visualized as 42 trillion photos on Instagram, or 4 trillion videos on YouTube.
Mobile trends set the pace
Traffic growth on mobile networks is occurring much faster than traffic growth on fixed networks. 94% of mobile traffic in 2018 is expected to be generated via smartphones, tablets and laptops. The reason for this phenomenon is mobile trends. The obvious reason is that more and more people are becoming mobile device users. In 2021 the number of such users was 4.1 billion, in 2018 it is expected to be 4.9 billion users.
Growth in the number of users goes hand in hand with growth in the number of devices themselves. It is estimated that in four years the number of mobile devices connected to the network will exceed 10 billion, of which 80% will be personal devices and 20% will be M2M, or machine-to-machine, connections. Another trend, is the increasing speed of data transfer in mobile networks. Data speeds are expected to double between 2021 and 2017, from 1.4 Mbps to 2.5 Mbps. The final aspect is the increasing amount of video streaming, which is expected to account for 69% of global mobile traffic in 2018.
Traffic generated by video apps will increase 14-fold between 2021 and 2018, breaking the record for all mobile app categories.
M2M, or mobile traffic without us
M2M, or machine-to-machine, which includes connections generated by wearable devices, also contributes to increased mobile traffic. M2M is all data, transferred between devices without human intervention. In 2021, M2M connections accounted for approx. 5% of all mobile network connections and generated 1% of global mobile network traffic.
In four years, such connections are already expected to account for nearly 20% of all mobile network connections and will generate 6% of global mobile network traffic. The number of wearable devices is also growing significantly. In 2021, their number worldwide was 21.7 million devices, in 2018 this number is expected to rise to 177 million!
Impact of 4G on mobile traffic growth
Telecommunications operators, wanting to satisfy their customers more and more, are taking care of infrastructure development and expanding networks by implementing 4G technology. It, too, contributes to increased mobile traffic. Last year, 4G supported 30% of total mobile network traffic; in 2018, it will be 51%.
4G traffic will increase as much as 18 times between 2021 and 2018.
The power of the mobile internet
Based on the data presented by Cisco, it is clear how much the world is moving towards mobility. Over the next four years, almost all mobility ratios, will increase significantly. The number of mobile devices and wearable devices will increase, a significant number of service providers will want to help their customers by improving their networks.
