Mobile device and traffic correlations

Mobile data traffic is predicted to grow 10 times by
2016, by which time data traffic will be split fairly
equally between devices such as smartphones on
one hand, and PCs and tablets on the other.
A large part of the data traffic is generated by a
limited number of users in each device category.
These users may considerably change their usage
if operators implement data volume caps or other
traffic management schemes. Measures like
this could significantly impact the traffic forecast.
Traffic per subscriber partly relates to the
screen size of the user’s individual device.
On average, a mobile PC generates
approximately 4-6 times more traffic than a
high-traffic smartphone
3
. A mobile PC generates
approximately 1-2GB per month on average vs.
250-500MB per month produced by smartphones.

BY 2016…
> Mobile broadband subscriptions
will reach almost 5 billion, up from the
expected 900 million by the end of 2011.
> The number of high-traffic smartphones
3

will increase more than 5 times and
generated traffic will grow around
12 times.
> Mobile PC subscriptions will more than
double and generated traffic will grow
about 8 times.
> Tablet subscriptions will grow 10 times
and generated traffic will increase
about 40 times.