Cisco has released its latest analysis of mobile network traffic, and its research found that the pace of growth in mobile data traffic has slowed slightly even while mobile network speeds saw a huge boost during 2016.
Takeaways from the 11th annual Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update include:
-The rate of global mobile traffic slowed slightly. On a global basis, mobile data traffic grew 63% in 2016. This is a bit slower than the growth during 2015, which was 74%. Monthly mobile data traffic was 7.2 exabytes per month at the end of 2016, up from 4.4 exabytes per month at the end of 2015. Comparatively, mobile networks carrier 300 petabytes per month in 2011, the Cisco VNI Mobile research noted.
-4G connections continue to dominate the traffic mix. 69% of mobile traffic was 4G, according to Cisco, although 4G connections only accounted for 26% of mobile connections overall — 33% of connections were 3G, which represented 24% of traffic. The average 4G connection generated four times more traffic than the average 3G connection. However, Cisco also found that
-Mobile offload continues to grow rapidly. In 2015, Cisco found that monthly Wi-Fi offload traffic exceeded monthly cellular traffic for the first time: 3.9 exabytes per month for Wi-Fi and 3.7 exabytes per month for cellular. In 2016, the company reported that 60% of total mobile data traffic was offloaded via Wi-Fi or femtocells — and that in total, 10.7 exabytes per month of mobile data traffic was offloaded to fixed networks each month.
-Mobile network speeds saw a huge boost in 2016. Cisco reported that cellular speeds grew more than threefold in 2016: from 2.0 Mbps in 2015 to 6.8 Mbps in 2016.
-Smartphones continue to be the main driver of mobile data traffic. According to Cisco, the average smartphone data use was up 38% in 2016 to 1,614 MB per month. The top 1% of mobile data users accounted for 6% of overall traffic, down from 8% in 2015 and 52% in 2010, Cisco noted. The top 20% of mobile users generate 56% of data traffic. Cisco also reported that smartphones, including phablets, represented 45% of total mobile devices and connections, but 81% of mobile traffic.
-Mobile video traffic accounted for 60% of all mobile data traffic.
-In terms of the internet of things, Cisco said that there were 325 million wearable devices in 2016 and 11 million of those had embedded cellular connections.
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