The Global Market for Mobile Data Traffic is Projected to Exceed 60 Exabytes/Month by 2022

May 03, 2017

Rise of High Bandwidth 4G & the Resulting Massive Increase in Video Consumption Drives Growth of Mobile Data Traffic, According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

GIA launches comprehensive analysis of industry trends, growth drivers, market share, size and demand forecasts on the global Mobile Data Traffic market. The global market for Mobile Data Traffic is projected to exceed 60 Exabytes/month by 2022, driven by the expanding subscriber base for high bandwidth 4G LTE services and the resulting massive spurt in mobile video consumption.

The world has been a witness to the huge impact of Internet on various aspects of human life. Commercially launched in 1995, Internet evolved from an e-mailing and instant messaging tool into a multi-functional platform that seamlessly supports music/video streaming, gaming, photo sharing, e-commerce, GPS/route navigation, TV broadcast, and online education & book store among others. Although, desktop PCs stood as the primary device type for accessing the Internet till early-2010s, increased proliferation of smartphones and tablets has shifted the Internet consumption pattern towards mobile devices. Extending the convenience and flexibility of anytime, anywhere Internet access, mobile devices widened their use case in the Internet domain. Consequently, demand for Mobile Internet, the Internet service delivered through connected mobile devices, demonstrated fast paced growth across geographies.

Re-enacting the massive success of fixed Internet, Mobile Internet has transformed into the de facto Internet service type for global users. Increased consumption of Mobile Internet is resulting in higher demand for mobile data services, consequently leading to incremental growth in mobile data traffic volumes. While high penetration of smartphones and tablets has a major role in soaring demand for mobile data, favorable mobile device usage patterns driven by increased role of digital platforms in daily lives are triggering huge expansion in mobile data traffic. Further, wider deployments of 3G and 4G networks, which offer faster mobile Internet access, and expanding user base for mobile services over these advanced mobile networks across the world, are contributing to sustained growth in mobile data traffic.

A growing number of mobile users are leveraging mobile internet for web browsing, social networking, mobile messaging, video viewing, audio/music, VoIP calling, file sharing, and m-commerce. Of various activities, mobile video has evolved into the key driving force behind huge expansion in mobile data traffic. Mobile data traffic is poised to remain firm in the short- to mid-term amid soaring consumption of mobile internet in a multitude of infotainment and communication applications and increased demand for convenient and flexible Internet service from consumers across the board. New generation concepts such as IoT, M2M communication, and Smart City will play a pivotal role in future growth of mobile data traffic.

As stated by the new market research report on Mobile Data Traffic, Asia-Pacific represents the largest market worldwide. Trailing at a CAGR of 58.2% over the analysis period, the Middle East & Africa ranks as the fastest growing market, led by growing penetration of smartphones, roll out of 4G mobile networks; falling mobile internet tariffs matched by rising volumes of subscriptions; and growing efforts of emerging economies to go digital and the resulting focus on broadband infrastructure development. The tendency of emerging markets to leapfrog legacy technologies like fixed broadband also spurs opportunity for mobile Internet and data consumption.

Major players in the market include AT&T, Bharti Airtel Limited, China Mobile Limited, China Telecom Corporation Limited, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, KDDI Corp., KT Corp., NTT DoCoMo Inc., Orange S.A., SK Telecom, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Telefónica S.A., Telenor ASA, Telstra Corporation Limited, T-Mobile International AG & Co. KG, Verizon Communications Inc., and Vodafone Group Plc.

The research report titled “Mobile Data Traffic: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of market trends, issues, drivers, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic industry activities of global companies. The report provides market estimates and projections of data volumes (in Terabytes/month) for all major geographic markets such as the US, Canada, Japan, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, India, South Korea, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), Middle East & Africa, and Latin America (Brazil and Rest of Latin America). The report analyzes mobile data traffic by Category – Video, Audio, and Others (File Sharing, and VoIP among Others) at global and regional level. Further, the report also analyzes mobile data traffic by Device Type - Netbooks/Notebooks, Smartphones and Others (Mobile-to-Mobile, Tablets, and Feature Phones among Others) for the global market.

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