Softpedia reports ABI Research has recently published a report on the mobile data traffic, showing an impressive growth in usage compared to the current levels. According to the firm, the mobile data traffic registered per month by 2014 will exceed the total data traffic registered during the entire 2008. The report takes into consideration both the sent and received data traffic.
“When people think of mobile data they think of BlackBerry and iPhone handsets,” says senior analyst Jeff Orr. “But the bulk of today’s traffic is generated by laptops with PC Card and USB modems.” Last year, add-on cellular modems accounted for two thirds of the total data traffic, yet it has been forecast that computers with included 3G/4G modems will account for more than half of the traffic by 2014.
The study shows that in 2008 the mobile data traffic around the world topped 1.3 Exabytes, while the amount is expected to reach an average of 1.6 Exabytes per month by 2014. In addition, the research firm also shows that video streaming is one of the IP traffic types that will see the most impressive growth.
Other findings include the fact that around 74% of the global mobile data traffic by 2014 will come from Web and Internet access, while 26% will come from audio and video streaming. Less than 1% of the data traffic will come from peer-to-peer file sharing and VoIP. While in 2008 Western Europe accounted for 31% of the traffic, Asia-Pacific is expected to take the lead by 2014, with more than 28%.
