© 2010 Rapid TV News
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 10-02-2010
Downloading video content on the move is now such a global phenomenon that a single supplier, YouTube, is soaking up 10% of the planet’s mobile bandwidth, says a study from Allot Mobile Trends.
Boston-based Allot, in its latest Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report, shows a significant 72% growth in worldwide mobile data bandwidth usage in H2 last year.
“Over-the-top applications such as YouTube and Skype are driving this continued momentum in mobile broadband growth. APAC leads the growth with 86%; EMEA posted 70% growth and the Americas 59%. The Allot Mobile Trends Report, which tracks global IP application usage and growth, collected statistics from leading mobile operator networks worldwide with a combined user base of more than 180m subscribers.”
Allot’s Mobile Trends Report validates video as a mainstream medium and demonstrates that it is the single most influential factor driving the need for increased mobile network capacity. “However, with P2P remaining the biggest cause of cell congestion in the top 5% of cells, mobile broadband networks are still facing the same challenges as fixed networks – growing bandwidth demands, congestion, as well as finding ways to enhance the user experience and to lessen the negative impact of a few subscribers on the network,” says the report.
Here are some key findings:
According to Allot MobileTrends Report:
- HTTP streaming continues to be the fastest growing application with a 99% increase; its global mobile broadband share grew by 50% between Q2 and Q4, 2009.
- YouTube accounted for 10% of global mobile bandwidth during Q3 and Q4, 2009.
- FaceBook experienced tremendous growth of 180% during the second half of 2009.
- Skype is the undisputed VoIP traffic market leader, accounting for 77% of the global VoIP bandwidth; VoIP and IM applications have increased significantly by almost 47%.
- HTTP downloads grew by 73%, and have become a feasible alternative for massive file sharing.
- P2P is the single largest factor leading to cell congestion which accounts for 34% of bandwidth utilization in the top 5% of cells.
More data at: www.allot.com/mobiletrends.html.
(c) Rapid TV News 2010
