Cisco via its Visual Networking Index™ Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2013 to 2018 report, an ongoing initiative to track and forecast the impact of visual networking applications on global networks, predicts that the overall mobile data traffic is expected to grow to 15.9 exabytes per month by 2018, nearly an 11-fold increase over 2013. The mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 61 percent from 2013 to 2018, contributed by continued strong growth in the number of mobile Internet connections, such as personal devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, which will exceed 10 billion by 2018 and be 1.4 times greater than the world’s population (the United Nations estimates 7.6 billion people by 2018).
The report highlights that the Asia Pacific and North America regions will account for almost two-thirds of global mobile traffic by 2018. Middle East and Africa will experience the highest CAGR of 70 percent, increasing 14-fold over the forecast period. Central and Eastern Europe will have the second highest CAGR of 68 percent, increasing 13-fold over the forecast period. The emerging market regions of Asia Pacific and Latin America will have CAGRs of 67 percent and 66 percent respectively.
Cisco has also named other major trends contributing to the growth of mobile data traffic, including the transition to smarter mobile devices , the IOT-Emerging Wearable Devices and video apps dominance.
“Global mobile data traffic will continue its truly remarkable growth, increasing nearly 11-fold over the next five years, to reach an amount in 2018 that is more than 57 times the total amount of mobile data traffic just a few years ago in 2010. Such growth is not only indicative of mobility becoming a critical characteristic of almost every network experience and the value consumers and businesses alike place on it, but it also represents the immense opportunities ahead for service providers who sit at the center of the Internet of Everything.” said Doug Webster, Vice President of Products and Solutions Marketing, Cisco
