Friday, 01 July 2011 05:47
Smartphones and tablets are having their day, and some networks are beginning to strain under the weight of mobile data traffic. Take a look around. Odds are good those around you are tooling away on a smartphone or tablet. Both devices are enjoying immense popularity which is great if you are a manufacturer. For cellular carriers, though, the proliferation of iPhones and Android devices alone is a source of an intensifying headache called “cellular data congestion”. Simply put, the more smartphones and tablets entering the marketplace, the more strain that’s been put on cellular networks.
For perspective, consider Cisco Systems recent “Visual Networking Index” report, which calls for global mobile data traffic to increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015. Cisco also reports:
- 3 million tablets connected to mobile networks in 2010, each consuming five times ( 405MB) more mobile data traffic than the average smartphone (79MB monthly)
- By 2015, a typical smartphone will generate 1.3GB of traffic monthly, a 16 times increase from 2010
- In 2015, connected tablets will create as much traffic (248 petabytes monthly) as “the entire global mobile network in 2010” (242 petabytes monthly).
- By 2015, more than 7.1 billion devices will connect to mobile networks, roughly equaling the world’s population
