Worldwide mobile data usage expected to double over the next four years

According to a new research by Juniper Research, data mobile traffic generated by smartphones, featurephones and tablets will double over the next four years, approaching 197 000 Petabytes by 2019.

The research estimates that 41% of all mobile data traffic will be carried over cellular networks by the same year. The rest of the data traffic will be offloaded via Wi-Fi networks which the research points out as a major player in data usage. The consumption by mobile users will continue to rise, impacted heavily by the rise in 4G adoption and factors such as HD video usage. Video already accounts 60% of global IP traffic and, in some developed markets, this is expected to exceed 70% in two to three years.

“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 8 times between 2014 and 2019”, added research author Nitin Bhas.

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The report titled ‘Mobile Data Offload & Onload: Wi-Fi, Small Cell & Network Strategies 2015-2019’ states that the 197,000 Petabytes growth is equivalent to over 10 billion Blu-ray movies.

The research also observed that Wi-Fi has now become an integral part of operators’ network strategy. It is not only being used for data offload, but also to maintain call connection quality. This is certainly true with the introduction of calls on whatsapp and Messenger.

Other key findings include that connected cars and other telematics will significantly boost machine to machine traffic in the coming years. North America and Western Europe will have the highest offload factor throughout the next four years.