Worldwide mobile data traffic will be 75 exabytes a year by 2015

February 2, 2011

Worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold during 2010 – 2015 reaching 75 exabytes a year by 2015 due to a projected surge in mobile Internet-enabled devices delivering popular video applications and services, according to the Cisco® Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2010 to 2015.

This traffic increase represents a compound annual growth rate of 92 percent over the same period. Two major global trends are driving these significant mobile data traffic increases: a continued surge in mobile-ready devices such as tablets and smart phones, and widespread mobile video content consumption.

The Cisco study predicts that by 2015, more than 5.6 billion personal devices will be connected to mobile networks, and there will also be 1.5 billion machine-to-machine nodes — nearly the equivalent of one mobile connection for every person in the world. Mobile video is forecast to represent 66 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2015, increasing 35-fold from 2010 to 2015, the highest growth rate of any mobile data application tracked in the Cisco VNI Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast. Mobile traffic originating from tablet devices is expected to grow 205-fold from 2010 to 2015, the highest growth rate of any device category tracked.