Cisco today released the Virtual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014 to 2019, suggesting that global mobile data traffic will increase almost ten times by 2019.
By 2019, annual global mobile data traffic will reach 292 exabytes (one billion gigabytes) per year, up from 30 exabytes in 2014.
The report also predicted that 4G will support 26 percent of mobile traffic by 2019. Average global mobile network speeds will increase 2.4 fold in the same period, from 1.7 Mbps in 2014 to 4.0 Mbps in 2019.
Part of the growth in mobile use will be seen in wearable devices, the number of which is expected to increase five-fold to reach 578 million by 2019. Wearables currently generate around six times as much traffic per month as a basic handset.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of machine-to-machine (M2M) applications will also boost traffic. In 2014, the average M2M module generated three times as much traffic per month as a basic handset.
Doug Webster, Vice President of Products and Solutions Marketing, Cisco, commented: "The ongoing adoption of more powerful mobile devices and wider deployments of emerging M2M applications, combined with broader access to faster wireless networks, will be key contributors to significant mobile traffic growth in the coming years."
"This mobile-friendly environment will give service providers a new landscape of challenges and opportunities to innovatively deliver a variety of mobile services and experiences to consumers and business users as the Internet of Everything continues to take shape."
