Yet majority of mobile data traffic to be offloaded to Wi-Fi networks
New research has forecast that mobile data traffic will approach almost 197,000 Petabytes (PB) by 2019, equivalent to over 10 billion Blu-ray movies.
However, the research found that only 41% of the data generated by smartphones, feature phones and tablets will be carried over cellular networks by 2019, with the majority of mobile data traffic offloaded to Wi-Fi networks, stated Juniper Research.
The research estimates that the average monthly data usage by smartphone and tablet users will double over the next four years. The daily media consumption by mobile users will continue to rise, bolstered by the rise in 4G adoption and factors such as HD video usage, said Juniper Research.
“Certainly, video is forming an ever-greater proportion of network traffic. For example, Juniper Research anticipates that video traffic over smartphones will increase by nearly eight times between 2014 and 2019,” added research author Nitin Bhas.
Video currently accounts for around 60% of global IP traffic and, in some developed markets, this proportion is likely to exceed 70% in two to three years.
In 2014, data traffic generated by smartphones, feature phones and tablets in the Far East and China exceeded that of North America for the first time.
Additionally, the research observed that Wi-Fi has now become an integral part of operators’ network strategy. Wi-Fi is not just being used for data offload, but also to maintain call connection quality in challenging network topologies. For example, EE UK launched its Wi-Fi calling feature on a selected number of handsets in April 2015.
The research also found that onloaded M2M traffic will significantly increase over the forecast period, primarily driven by telematics and connected car infotainment systems.
North America and Western Europe will have the highest offload factor throughout the forecast period.
