CVNIF predicts 13-fold increase in Global Mobile Data Traffic

Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast has predicted 13-fold growth in worldwide mobile data traffic from 2012 to 2017.

The expected steady increase in mobile traffic is partly due to continued strong growth in the number of mobile Internet connections (personal devices and machine-to-machine applications), which will exceed the world’s population (United Nations estimates 7.6 billion) by 2017.

The projected 2012 to 2017 global mobile data traffic increase represents a compound annual growth rate of 66 per cent. During the 2012–2017 forecast period, Cisco anticipates that global mobile data traffic will outpace global fixed data traffic by many factors such as more mobile usage, connections, videos and faster mobile speed. 

According to the forecast, 93% global mobile data traffic will be driven by smartphones, tablets and laptops. M2M traffic will represent 5 per cent of 2017 global mobile data traffic. The adoption of 4G technologies plays an important role in the growth of mobile data traffic.

Doug Webster, Vice-President of Service Provider Networking Marketing, Cisco, said, “By 2017, global mobile data traffic will continue its truly remarkable growth, increasing 13-fold over the next five years, to reach an amount more than 46 times the total amount of mobile IP traffic just a few years ago in 2010. This trend is a result of the seemingly insatiable demand by consumers and businesses alike to achieve the benefits gained when connecting people, data, and things in an Internet of Everything.”