Mobile Bandwidth Consumption Grows 72 Percent in Six Months

Global mobile data bandwidth consumption increased 72 percent in the second half of 2009, an analysis by Allot shows. As you might suspect, video plays a large role.

 

YouTube (News - Alert) alone was responsible for 10 percent of global mobile data consumption. And though peer-to-peer traffic was the big worry several years ago, HTTP streaming and downloading now is a bigger driver of bandwidth demand.

 

HTTP streaming increased its global mobile broadband share by 50 percent during 2009, Allot's (News - Alert) analysis shows.

 

HTTP streaming also was the fastest growing application with a 99 percent increase. HTTP downloads grew by 73 percent and seem to be limiting use of P2P, Allot suggests. That doesn't mean P2P is not a crucial factor at some cell sites, though.

 

P2P traffic accounted for 34 percent of bandwidth utilization in the top five percent of cells, in terms of total traffic. At a 'typical' cell site, P2P represents 12 percent of demand.

 

'The most striking result is how streaming video has become a mainstream medium and is the single most influential factor driving the need for increased network capacity,' Allot says. Much of this increase is due to a shift towards more real time, user-generated, on-demand content where the user is both broadcaster and viewer, Allot notes.

 

In the U.S. market HTTP browsing represents 35 percent of bandwidth demand, while HTTP streaming accounts for 25 percent, while HTTP downloads contribute 16 percent and P2P generates 18 percent of traffic.

 

In the Asia-Pacific region HTTP browsing represents 24 percent of demand; HTTP streaming 28 percent; HTTP downloads 20 percent and P2P 23 percent.

 

In Europe and the Middle East and Africa, HTTP browsing represents 22 percent of bandwidth demand; HTTP streaming 34 percent; HTTP downloads and P2P 17 percent.

 

Nowhere is VoIP, instant messaging and all other applications more than six percent of total bandwidth demand.

 

In terms of application trends, social networking 'is a global phenomenon which has completely changed the way in which we share information, both of a personal and a business nature,' says Allot. 'According to our data, Facebook (News - Alert), one of the world’s most popular social networking sites, experienced massive growth of close to 180 percent during the second half of 2009.'

 

'This huge jump was mainly caused by users in the Asia-Pacific region where the growth in Facebook traffic reached almost 280 percent,' Allot says. According to official Facebook statistics from January 2010, there are more than 65 million active users currently accessing the site through their mobile devices, and these mobile users are almost 50 percent more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.