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YouTube driving mobile video growth in Africa

October 26, 2016

Sandvine, a provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, has released its latest Global Internet Phenomena Report focusing on Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.  The report is based on data from a selection of Sandvine’s 300-plus communications service provider (CSP) customers.

Report highlights include:

  • Video on mobile networks in Africa has doubled in the last year increasing from 8.6 per cent to 18.1 per cent
  • YouTube continues to be top the mobile application in both Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, with Sandvine predicting the rapid growth of video in Africa will make it the top application in Africa within the next 18 months
  • File sharing still accounts for almost 30 per cent of total traffic on fixed networks in Asia- Pacific, although it did experience a small decline over the figures observed last year. Last year, Sandvine predicted that File sharing traffic share had peaked in the region
  • Facebook properties (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) continue to account for over 20 per cent of all traffic on mobile networks in the Middle East
  • WAP Browsing, typically associated with feature phone use, has seen its traffic share cut in half in Africa over the past two years. This is indicative of increasing smartphone adoption in the region

“The rapid growth of video on mobile networks in Africa underscores the need for operators in the region to have solutions in place that allow them to measure, monetise, and optimise the Real-Time Entertainment traffic that subscribers value,” said Tom Donnelly, Sandvine’s COO, Sales and Global Services. “These strategies have been extremely successful for our customers in both Asia-Pacific and  the Middle East, and has allowed them to provide their subscribers a high quality of experience when they are using the applications they care the most about.”

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