Mobile data traffic will surge 8-fold over the next five years, according to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast (2015 to 2020).
The growth in mobile data traffic will be mainly due to the increase in mobile users, smart devices, mobile video and 4G networks.
Cisco Visual Networking Index report did not mention about 3G powered data growth. Incidentally, several Indian telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Tata Docomo, Reliance Communications and Aircel are making investment in their 3G networks across the country.
Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Jio Infocomm are investing in 4G networks looking at revenue from mobile data business.
Global telecoms such as Verizon, AT&T, China Mobile, Vodafone, America Movil, Telefonica, TeliaSonera need to invest more in network to manage mobile traffic growth indicated by Cisco Visual Networking Index.
4G connectivity share will surpass 2G by 2018 and 3G by 2020. 4G will represent more than 70 percent of all mobile traffic, and 4G connections will generate nearly six times more traffic per month than non-4G connections by 2020, according to Cisco VNI.
Martin Bradley, director at Strategy Analytics, in its latest report, suggests that mobile operators need to start investing in 4.5G networks to look for additional revenue streams.
Cisco Visual Networking Index says smart mobile devices and connections will represent 72 percent of mobile devices and connections by 2020 against 36 percent in 2015. The number of mobile users will grow to 5.5 billion, representing 70 percent of the population by 2020, according to Cisco VNI.
Smart devices will generate 98 percent of mobile data traffic by 2020. Smartphones will account for 81 percent of total mobile traffic by 2020 against 76 percent in 2015.
Regional Mobile Data Traffic Growth Rates (2015–2020)
# The Middle East and Africa (15-fold)
# Asia Pacific (9-fold)
# Central and Eastern Europe (8-fold)
# Latin America (8-fold)
# Western Europe (6-fold)
# North America (6-fold)
Mobile video will have the highest growth rate of any mobile application. Consumer and business users’ demand for higher video resolution, more bandwidth, and processing speed will increase the use of 4G connected devices.
Global mobile data traffic will reach 30.6 exabytes per month by 2020 from 3.7 exabytes in 2015.
Annual global mobile data traffic will reach 366.8 exabytes from 44.2 exabytes in 2015.
Mobile data traffic, which was offloaded, will grow to 55 percent by 2020 from 51 percent in 2015.
Over 75 percent of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2020.
There will be 11.6 billion mobile-ready devices/connections—including 8.5 billion personal mobile devices and 3.1 billion M2M connections against 7.9 billion total mobile-ready devices and M2M connections in 2015.
67 percent of mobile devices / connections will be smart by 2020 against 36 percent in 2015.
98 percent of mobile data traffic will come from smart’ devices / connections by 2020 against 89 percent in 2015.
According to Cisco VNI, smartphones, laptops, and tablets will drive about 92 percent of global mobile data traffic by 2020 against 94 percent in 2015. M2M traffic will represent 7 percent of mobile data traffic by 2020 against 3 percent in 2015. Basic handsets will account for 1 percent of mobile data traffic by 2020 against 3 percent in 2015.
66 percent of mobile devices / connections will be IPv6-capable against 36 percent in 2015.
IPv6 traffic will be 54 percent of mobile data traffic against 13 percent in 2015.
M2M connections will represent 26.4 percent of mobile-connected devices against 7.7 percent in 2015. M2M connections will generate 6.7 percent of total mobile traffic against 2.7 percent in 2015.
Global wearables will grow six-fold from 2015 to 2020.
There will be more than 600 million wearable devices in use by 2020 against 97 million in 2015.
Average global mobile network speeds will increase 3.2 fold 6.5 Mbps in 2020 from 2.0 Mbps in 2015. 4G adoption is the primary catalyst for mobile speed improvements.
4G connections will account for 40.5 percent of mobile connections against 13.7 percent in 2015.
3G connections will account for 38.7 percent of all mobile connections against 33.7 percent in 2015.
2G connections will account for 13.5 percent all mobile connections against 52.3 percent in 2015.
4G traffic will grow 13-fold from 2015 to 2020.
4G connections will account for 72 percent of total mobile data traffic against 47 percent of total mobile data traffic in 2015.
Wi-Fi hotspots, including home spots, will grow 7X to 432 million in 2020 from to 64 million in 2015. Home spots will grow from 57 million in 2015 to 423 million in 2020.
VoWi-Fi will exceed VoLTE in the number of minutes used per year by 2016. VoWi-Fi will exceed VoIP in the number of minutes of used per year by 2018.
VoWi-Fi minutes of use will account for half – 53 percent – of all mobile IP voice traffic by 2020.
The number of Wi-Fi-capable tablets and PCs at 1.7 billion will be more than three times the number of cellular-capable tablets and PCs at 548 million by 2020.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com