16 February 2010

Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Forecast for 2009-2014 reveals annual global mobile data traffic will reach 3.6 exabytes per month, or an annual run rate of 40 exabytes by 2014. Such a figure equates to a 39-fold increase from 2009 to 2014, or a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 108%.

“Mobile data traffic is growing faster than expected five years ago,”
said Doug Webster, senior director, service provider marketing, Cisco.
“In spite of the economic downturn, the demand for mobile services has
remained high, posing both challenges and opportunities for service
providers worldwide,” Webster said.

The forecast suggests two major global trends driving this increase: the
proliferation of mobile-ready devices and widespread mobile video
content consumption. By 2014, there will be over five billion personal
devices connecting to mobile networks, and billions more
machine-to-machine nodes. Mobile video will represent 66% of all mobile
data traffic by 2014, increasing 66-fold from 2009 to 2014—the highest
growth rate of any mobile data application tracked in the Cisco VNI
Global Mobile Data Forecast.

Cisco says global mobile data traffic has increased by 160% over the
past year to 90 petabytes per month, or the equivalent of 23 million
DVDs. This traffic is growing today 2.4 times faster than global fixed
broadband data traffic. Smart phones and laptop air cards will drive
more than 90% of global mobile traffic by 2014, by which time more than
400 million of the world’s internet users will access the network solely
through a mobile connection.

CISCO